POVERTY, WEALTH, JESUS and SIMPLICITY

Here is a statement that has challenged my thinking;

"in a world of finite resources I am wealthy at someone else’s expense"

Is it possible that there are not enough resources in our world to sustain middle class life as we know it? Are there enough resources in our world for every person in Canada, the USA, China, India and Africa to have a stainless steel sink, a car in the driveway, electric lights, indoor plumbing with its prerequisite use of water, pumps, filtration and waste disposal? What about Large screen TV’s and digital cameras? Where would we put the waste and by products of juice boxes for every child, batteries for every toy, disposable picnic plates and plastic garbage bags?

Could the dream of middle class lifestyle be a fabrication of capitalistic consumerism?

Middle class living may not be achievable.

From a basic supply and demand concept there may not be enough to go around. We know, of course, that if demand increases and supply decreases we have a price increase. That very cycle alone could out price the middle class.

The death of the middle class may be just around the corner in North America.

Jesus, the great prophet, said that we would always have the poor. Maybe Jesus understood supply and demand economics better that we do.

Here is some good news. There is actually enough wealth currently available in the word to alleviate poverty. It is, however, hoarded in the hands of very few people.

As Christians ( defined here as a follower of Christ, not a religion) Jesus calls us to account for our wealth. He challenges us to make certain our wealth is available in caring for the poor. He never defines what wealth is, or how much is too much. He does challenge us to make certain our wealth is available so that we can care for others.

The availability of our wealth in ministering to the poor is at the core of a life of simplicity. Imagine what each of us could do if we simplified our lifestyles. We could each use the left over wealth and follow Jesus into the desert place of poverty, and bring new life and new hope. We might not even miss our afternoon cappuccino at Tim’s.

WHO I AM GOING TO VOTE FOR!

Well it's time for another Canadian election. I often get asked who I am going to vote for. As a "kinda" public figure and deeply into religion I have avoided answering that question for years. Today I am coming out of the "secret voter closet." You see, the other week I read an article in the Sudbury Star that quoted the late (and might I say great) Tom Davies answer to this very same question. In essence he encouraged people to vote for the candidate in our community who will be with the party that forms the next government. Now that's different!

Imagine Sudbury with a Federal representative who is actually on the governments side. Just think of the attention( read potential dollars)that our community could receive. Look at what "Wrangling Rick" has done for sudbury since his transformation from scrapping with the government to being able to scrape together millions for this community from the government. Now imagine what we could accomplish if we had both provincial and federal representation.

In my opinion it's time for us to get selfish. That's right! No more ideological voting for me. I have given up on the notion that there is any practical difference in Liberal economics, Conservative economics or NDP economics (if there is such a thing)and may the good Lord help us, Green economics. Show me the money.

I want attention for Sudbury. I want Sudbury to finally, be on the winning side. I want no more excuses for coming in second, or maybe even third in this election. Sudbury needs a federal representative from the governing side.

So who am I going to vote for? Simply put I am going to vote for the candidate from the party most likely to win.

You may ask me, "What party do I think is most likely going to win the election?" My reply,( said kindly and gently, of course) "non of your business".