The disturbing truth that people don't know they're poor until they are shown/told they are, has really perplexed me. We think we are helping by going to other countries to help build houses or dig wells, but we instead are showing them things that they don't have, which shows them their financial status. They had no idea before we got there that they are missing out on technology, working tools, shoes, clean clothes... They don't know that what they have "isn't enough". We are showing them how rich we are and what they will probably never have.
Yes, they die of unclean water because of parasites... but that's what they know so they don't expect anything different. Is it right to then show them things that then will cause them to be unhappy? However, to go there and share with them the Gospel... that seems to be something completely different. No matter how happy they are, they can't possibly know the love of God without us going and telling them. I think we just need to be more careful about what we bring there: cameras, bags of clothes, books other than the Bible, shoes, luxuries, etc.
Maybe, like Paul, we should go to these places and desire to change them with our lives and the News we have to share with them, and not the crap we bring with us. As good intentioned as it may be (wanting to take video to bring back to share their story with our churches), are we possibly going about it the wrong way. Go and let God change lives through our hearts and not worry about "capturing" pictures to bring back to our homes. Bring back stories and passion to want to help these people instead.
I honestly can't wrap my brain around these thoughts... Do you have anything to add?
Deuteronomy 15:4-5:
4 However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5 if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
Interesting dilemma. Here are my thoughts:
ReplyDeleteYes, Stuff Aid and our view of "help" can cause some serious problems, especially when we are crossing cultural boundaries. Food aid given by the UN in Ethiopia, for instance, can actually make things worse by fueling the black market weapons trade. It's also a problem to walk into another culture and say, "We are rich, you are poor, our life is good, your life is bad, we have all the answers, and the solution is to make you like us."
Not only can it cause problems by bringing our miracle Stuff, we also often think we have all the spiritual knowledge unbeknown to these "primitive" people. In Henri Nouwen's "Gracias! A Latin American Journal," he addresses some of these issues with a quote from the Maryknoll missionaries: "Indeed, not too long ago, the main task [of Maryknoll missionaries] was seen as selling the pearls of good news to the poor and ignorant people. Now a radically new perspective dominates the Maryknoll activities: to search with the poor for the treasure hidden in the ground on which they stand. ...[a] shift from spiritual colonialism to solidarity in servanthood..."
We read from Matthew 11 during morning prayer today, and Jesus' words strike me as relevant to this topic: he prays to the Creator saying, "You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people." I think I probably fall into the sophisticate category, yet I've been humbled time and time again by pearls of wisdom from supposedly uneducated, "un-Gospeled" folks who have experienced the love and mystery of God in their lives.
Also, the poverty of oppression may be something that people with no other options survive and deal with and overcome. But clean drinking water is still a human right, whether or not one knows it. And hunger, homelessness, violence, and other structures of oppression cause children and adults serious trauma that I cannot stand by and condone, especially in the light of Jesus' teaching.
I think the key is that it's a circle. We must be willing to both give and to receive. One thing we can offer is our presence. We have the option to level the playing field of oppression--it's called "downward mobility"--to live in voluntary poverty with the weak, offer our solidarity and companionship, and learn from their hidden strength. And this is the Good News I believe in.
That's what we're attempting to do here at the Catholic Worker house. I, like the formerly homeless guests here, have no money to spend, and the bed I sleep in and food I eat are completely a gift, which is a very humbling position. But it's also a position from which I can truly relate to those who have little and rejoice in our friendships and life together.
Kyla
I was hoping that you'd speak into this Kyla. :) I completely agree with the words you have written. The pushme-pullme idea is one that I have grown to realize over the past few years as well. Not just with the poor of course but with believers and unbelievers alike. I still think we need to fight for clean water for other countries, but we need to be careful and sensitive to our actions and the effects we have on others. Big picture thinking of course. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks again Kyla.