The Kindness of Strangers

Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. 

The founders of this movement were largely unknown - Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood - and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it.  At that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. 

Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. 

And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, non-governmental organizations, and companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. 

The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.

~ From the commencement address by Paul Hawken (author, business founder, lecturer, corporate and government advisor on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy) to the University of Portland Class of '09.

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See The Modern Abolitionist, or perhaps Change Makers and Help Bringers

Ox and Grain

You don't muzzle the ox while it threshes the grain, right?

It's perhaps like a contract between the ox and the farmer.  The ox agrees to a day's work for, say, a bucket of grain, and the farmer agrees.  Reasonable.

Then the farmer discovers this other ox that will do the work for a smaller bucket of grain.  He's not concerned that the ox will be underfed and will eventually die. There's plenty more oxen where that one came from. There will always be one that is desperate enough that it will take less than a living wage.  As the only shareholder, the farmer will make a killing.

The farmer's narrowly capitalistic view, that workers are a resource to be used and discarded, is the current business model for most large corporations.  The cost of workers is managed accordingly.

Government regulations intrude.  There are laws about workplace safety, and laws about max hours and minimum wage.  Such regulations are a burden on burgeoning enterprise and are a continual point of contention between businesses and workers.

In the absence of such regulations, there would of course be many more employees working, but it would be for whatever their employer thought was good enough.  The fact that they would not be able to survive or have a meaningful life is not considered in that equation.

There has always been a push-back by the elite against the rising commoner.  Slavery, indentured servitude, child labor, abusive employment practices, all of them have been defended by the wealthy. All such defense comes from one single motive.  Single.  I choose to prosper at the expense of another.  That's neither free enterprise nor fair trade.

If I agree that laws are needed to keep businesses from putting children on the factory floor (like they used to do), should I also agree to a living wage?  Should I oppose discrimination?  Wage theft?  Financial fraud?  Marketplace manipulation?  Predatory finance?  All such behavior stems from that same single motive.

Capitalism is neither moral nor immoral, of course.  As has been said, it works well in an ethical environment founded on sound principles.  There seems to be a dearth of ethical capitalists these days, unfortunately, and the lower economic segment pays a high price.

Some responses from defenders of unconstrained capitalism regarding the poor might include:
- if they tried harder and made better decisions
- if they worked hard in school like I did
- if they didn't resort to crime
- if they were smart like me
- if they had a work ethic

They perhaps believe such things preferentially rather than evidentiarily.  They perhaps know of a welfare queen or drugged dad they consider the example of all in poverty.  Those are real but a miniscule minority.

In the real world,
- The poor along with their children work harder and longer than the rich.
- The poor commonly have more life, relationship, and survival skills than the rich.
- The poor possess equal intellectual and developmental potential with the rest of humanity.
Beyond that, the poor are generally more generous, less selfish, and more hospitable than the rich.

As the GAP widens, those at the top are further disconnected from the real world and their impact on others.  Those in the wealthier segment are generally unaware and personally unconcerned with the daily lives of the least wealthy 80% of humanity.

The question then: at what point do wage practices become unconscionable abuse?
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Seven and a half

 Countries, sized by their part of world population  

 

As of today, seven and a half billion people live on this earth, and it's been just five years since we passed seven billion.

There were five billion less when I was born.  That's billion, with a 'B'.

We are not evenly distributed.  Today, more than half of us live in urban settings, and that has rearranged things.

Cities are specialized and must have everything brought in, especially food.  Cities that do produce goods are focused; they may produce furniture but not medical supplies, cars but not fuel, clothes but not paper goods or plastic or energy or entertainment or ....

The logistics of getting everything to everyone is the critical element of lifestyle in the developed world.  Just-in-time manufacture/inventory/delivery are today's business essentials.

Countries, sized by their portion of world consumption  

Wealth is of course not distributed evenly.  "… for the citizens of most countries today, the success of their economy in the harsh world of global competition is of paramount importance." ~ Deanne Julius

In the 'developed' world today, folks will pay more for trash pickup and sewer service than those in the developing world will have for their total household income.  We'll use more water in a day per household than the developing world will use in a month or two.  "I remember when I was 14, carrying a 20 litre water can on my head, filling it from a river some thirty minutes away. When I came to Canada, I was shocked by the extravagant use of water here." ~ Sieru Efrem

Countries, sized by their share of preventable deaths

(infant mortality, child and teen mortality from 

commonly treatable diseases).

Imagine covering your family's needs for food, clothing, school, transportation, healthcare, and housing ... with $100/month.  "There is no work here, and when you do find a job, you earn pathetically low wages. I'm a factory watchman, and I earn the equivalent of eight dollars for a 12-hour day." Pirana 

A fellow I met recently told me about his life in the Malawi (south-eastern Africa); he had been a factory worker making $60 a month. As we looked around the shopping center in southern Maryland where we'd met, he said 'look at all the jobs' meaning all the businesses and restaurants in view. 'Why would anybody complain?'

Our seven and a half billion fellow-residents have little in common when it comes to lifestyle.  While we do want to ensure a safe and healthy world for our children, what about the rest?  Are they our concern?  Does our lifestyle impact theirs?

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The only way for a tiny group of people to become obscenely rich is for huge masses of others to be kept chronically poor. 

Truth and Love

Sometimes, the truth is not easily received.  Offered with love and grace, it can be a life changer, a world changer.  Truth within us makes us strong and deepens our understanding.  It equips us to stand against lies and distortion, against false teachers and warped leaders.  It unveils the difference between shining and whining.

Truth, when placed on the table amongst the piles of wrong thinking, will shine brightly and reveal every error, every misrepresentation, every off-the-mark claim and justification.

Offered in loving hands, the truth pushes back the darkness and illuminates the right pathway where we and our children can walk forward with confidence and clarity.  Lovingly given, the truth conveys extraordinary power.

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Easter Sunday, 2017

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord; you must no longer live as the uninformed do in their empty thinking.  They are dull-minded and cut off from God's life by ignorance from being hard-hearted. They've lost all sensitivity; living by warped values they give themselves to sensuality, and they are full of greed.

That's not the life you learned when you heard about Christ and the truths you see in him. You were taught to put off that old self which is bent by deceitful desires, to have your mind changed, and to put on your new self, born afresh to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

So each of you must put away lies and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin.”   Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, and don't give the devil a foothold.  Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any soiled talk come out of you, but only what is helpful for encouraging and equipping others, that it might benefit those who listen.  And don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Deliberately shed all bitterness, rage and anger, yelling and slander, along with every malicious intent. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.   ~ Ephesians 4:17-32 

Simple Explanations

 

For a quick look at simplistic definitions, here's a notional breakdown of western culture
and ideology.  It's reasonably accurate, isn't it.  
How much agrees with that which I hold as personal and proven conviction,
and how much is accepted without being understood in detail and validated?  

“Ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simple solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies.”  ~Dr. Brian Nosek

Did he actually say that the dumber among us will fall for the simplistic rhetoric of today's propagandists?  Yep.  He said that.

There's more, of course, always.  The truth is that we're all facing information overload, and it's easier to pick a simplistic position on some of life's issues than to study them all in detail.  Even smart folks get suckered in.  Reposting fake news is perhaps an example.  It doesn't matter how smart you are if you don't use your mind.  Ideologues forgo independent judgement in favor of having their views handed to them.

Party loyalty, religious exclusivism, consumerist norms, style and fashion, current issues, all tend to be simplistically defined and accepted.  Notice the popular trends you accept ...

There's a difference between an opinion and a personal conviction.

The values you've been taught ... each must eventually be unequivocally validated (or disproved and discarded) in your own understanding if you're going to be a thoughtful adult with a good conscience.  It's a personal task that establishes one's character and spans a lifetime.

Truth, of course, doesn't change.  Everything else changes.
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One example: the issue of gender equality is not a contest between men and women although it is often depicted as such.  The tension is between ideologies; between those who want to bring an end to hierarchies (of gender, class, race, caste), replacing them with equality, and those who prefer to maintain the status quo.  Participants on various sides can fall into the simplistic explanation of 'an attack on women' or 'feminist at war against men'.  All are off track.
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When ideology is your guide, you're bound to get lost.  It doesn't matter how smart you are if you don't use your mind.  Ideologues forgo independent judgement in favor of having their views handed to them.  Ideology determines your reaction to issues, ideas, and people, your view of politics, philosophy, economics, and history.  Facts and experience, personal inquiry and reasoning are much better at leading you to truth.  Such truth, however, is not everyone's intended destination.  ~Daniel J. Flynn

What are the chances of escaping poverty?

Protesters took these pictures at the home of the ousted Ukrainian president.  That's where their money had gone.  
The powerful members of government and industry consumed most of everything while regular folks struggled  
to feed their families and stay warm in the brutal winters.  Power corrupts rather spectacularly.    

In the Ukraine, rigged elections and government corruption brought the Orange Revolution ('04), Euromaidan and the 2014 Revolution.  There, as elsewhere, the rich were well served while the common folks provided the productivity with little benefit to themselves.  The country continues in political and economic turmoil, and it will be a decade or more before their governance and economy stabilize.  Their poverty rate is about 10%.  They're not the only example, of course.  Poverty in the U.S. is around 14% (20% for children).


So what are the chances of escaping poverty?  In the U.S. and in India, chances are about the same; they're somewhat better in the Ukraine.  That's a bit of a surprise.  Social and economic mobility, the chance to provide a better life for your children, that's been the reachable American dream in the past; now not so much.  Mobility here has been in a slow decline for many years as the GAP widens, and we see results similar to the caste system in India.

We're not alone.  Inequality plagues much of the world as the marketplace extracts more wealth exclusively for the wealthy.  In the U.S., virtually all of the gains in productivity for the last forty years have gone to the top 10%.  Their wealth accumulates rapidly while income for the rest has stagnated.

There are discussion about 'free trade' vs. 'fair trade'; is there a problem when one country extracts wealth from another without providing some equal benefit in return?

... or, when one segment of the population extracts wealth from the others without providing a fair return in exchange?

... or, when one works and his productivity benefits only the employer and not himself?

When does the imbalance become unfair and abusive?  At what point does it equal indentured servitude?

In the 70's, you could pay for college with about 800 hours of minimum wage work, about a summer's worth.  Higher education is needed more than ever by young folks if they're going to do well, but costs have risen disproportionately, faster even than the rise in healthcare costs.  You'd have to work more than full time all year to cover the costs.  Indebtedness is the offered solutions, and student loans now exceed credit card debt and automobile loans.  It was $1.2 trillion in 2016.

Even before college, a good education is hard to get if you're in the lower economic strata.  Life is different.  Struggling parents have little time for helping their kids with schoolwork.  Poorer neighborhoods intrude in a child's life with violence and drug culture.  Nutrition, healthcare, and social development are difficult to manage.

Here's some insight from a young lady in New Jersey ...

You know, as someone that grew up in the suburbs to white parents (white step dad, but essentially my dad). I played sports and instruments and went to an amazing school where they knew my parent's first names w/o having to check my file.                                                                  I rebelled at 14 and decided to live with my black bio dad in, let's face it, the hood. I was suddenly surrounded by drugs and gangs and thieves, and girls that wanted to fight me for no reason.  My English teacher, most notably, was so amazed that I could read without help, as every other kid stuttered and stumbled over the simplest words when we were reading out loud. This is in HIGH SCHOOL.  These kids in the ghetto aren't taught that they can compete against white kids, they're taught that school isn't important and all they need to learn is survival in the jungle.

I know most people don't get a taste of both worlds, so maybe they don't understand, but going from a white school where they told me I could be president, or a rocket scientist, or whatever I wanted, to a school where they're like "omg you can READ", I truly understand how so few people can actually make it out of the hood. Their only role models are drug dealers and basketball players. I watched all my white friends prepare for college worrying about AP classes and SATs while my black friends were smoking weed and skipping class. You couldn't understand if you haven't seen it firsthand.                                                          I know this is long-winded but so many people truly don't understand how much harder it really is for people to make it out of an underprivileged situation.  I went from a straight A over achiever to a drop-out within a year of being in the hood because I couldn't take the violence, the feelings of hopelessness, the harassment for "sounding too white" and having long hair.  It's not as easy as some might believe.

So what are we doing today to address the inequality?  What policies are in the queue to make a difference?

Fruit to Nuts

The farther up the ladder one climbs, the less connected one becomes to the real world of regular folks.

Moving up changes your worldview to that of the elite, and priorities change to match.  Influence on your thinking comes from that same echelon, and the voices from far below become faint and not really worth considering.  Some of what you do will be beneficial to others, and much may be harmful.  The process of change during the climb is perhaps gradual and unintentional, but the end is simple; you're nuts.

The fruit of a good heart and right thinking is unselfish concern for others, real joy, inner peace, patience (not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting), compassion, integrity, dependability, restraint, and a life by thoughtful choice.

How difficult it must be to climb the ladder of wealth and power without forfeiting every good thing.

Galatians 5:22-23

There are things you can see and things you can't.  It's a continual battle.

What you can see and what you can't

Rich people never go hungry, of course.               

Where you live on the money scale determines what you can see and what you can't.

If you work fulltime at $10/hour, you're in the richest 5% of folks in the world.  That $20,000 per year places you in the 400 million richest people on earth by income, and there are 7 billion people poorer than you.  Your income could pay the salaries of five doctors in Pakistan.

From your lofty $20K per year balcony, those far down the scale from you seem like ants to you.  You have no idea what their world is like.

Now consider the household with $200K annual income.  They have the same problem of perspective, and they can't see you either.

Now consider the country in which you live.  The top 1% and above ... those are the ones in political office, in corporate offices, and on Wall Street.  They're the influential, the decision makers.  They have little insight into the lives of regular folks.  (In the business world, employees are just a resource.) Those up above don't see their own actions clearly in terms of how they affect people below their own bracket.  Those down there are just the masses, not individuals.

Too, the GAP between rich and poor is widening in the U.S. (see the chart, right) and elsewhere due to globalization and our influence in the world marketplace.  We can look up at those mega-wealthy maggots sucking the life out of the world in disgust, and be reminded, that's us as seen from the next quintile below.

Such economic abuse is inhumane, unethical, and immoral by every standard, but if you can't see it clearly, you don't feel particularly guilty.  In fact, if you've read this far, you're likely to be either angry, dismissive, or heartbroken.

To be unmoved perhaps says something.  An interesting story is told about Adolph Hitler; a boxcar of seriously wounded, exhausted, and starving German soldiers returning from the disastrous siege of Stalingrad stopped next to Hitler's dining car where he sat in luxury, eating his meal, visible through the window.  As the stunned soldiers stared, Hitler reached across to the window and pulled down the shade, then returned to his meal, unmoved.

There's only one way for a tiny group of people to become obscenely wealthy...
So now what do we do with what we know?