One thing that I see though in real life is that some of those who are the most “poor” in the world are actually those who most understand joy. They don’t have much, but they have each other. If you want to find generosity, go to those who have no money. They will be the first to feed you their finest at the expense of feeding their children because they know it takes relationship to survive. Relationship. It is the basis of joy. It’s the understanding of everything that is important. It’s the strength of their joy. It’s we who don’t get it. Mother Teresa said of us that we are the poorest of the poor. Loneliness is rampant. Families so broken that they’re hard to define. Technology replacing relationship. I wonder if we took a picture of our spirits who would appear poor and who would be rich?
Pornography of the Poor
I’ve been kind of down the last week or so and I’m not sure that it isn’t from reading some of these books (although it could be stress as I’m getting ready for another big life change). But I think part of it is the books. Poverty is always presented in the saddest of stories and the most terrible of pictures in order to move us to action. People starving, families working 20 hours a day for $1 and still can’t provide for their family, children living on garbage dumps, etc… It has been called the “pornography of the poor.” Something about horror both attracts and repels us.
