Prayer

And now we come to the end... It's been quite the semester. I have learned quite a lot about our society, and have formed relationships with some of its newest members. I am now about to step out of the bubble of my private Christian liberal arts school, and into the world of the rich and the poor, the homeless and the mansion-dwellers, the hungry and the over-fed, the successful, the hopeful, the well-established... and the failures, the hopeless, and the immigrants. I will graduate from a hugely expensive university with little but a tiny scrap of paper to show for it (which society tells me that I need), and the learning which that paper represents (which is of much more value. Priceless, in fact).
America, to me, means consumerism, a house in the suburbs, and a life in the rat race. It also means exploitation of the 3rd world, atrocities carried out in the name of democracy, and a military force larger than that of the rest of the world combined. Sorry for the judgment and cynicism. I realize that other countries would probably be no better if they had as much power as we... All of that to say; I think the best way to end this series of blogs is with a prayer.

May God lead us away from arrogance and hypocrisy and towards humility. May God give us the strength to give up our greed and spread the wealth to those who truly need it. May America give up the idolatry of Nationalism and instead seek the God of Truth who shows up in the faces of our brothers and sisters all over the world. May we move away from individualism and toward community, building relationships of love with those we used to ignore or despise. May we pull away from our television sets long enough to recognize and respond to the ill-effects of the non-committal sex and mindless violence with which our culture is unhealthily saturated. May we be a people who seek justice for the poor and helpless. May we learn to love laughter and peace. May we lead the way in laying down our weapons (or turning them into farm equipment). May my skepticism be proven wrong.
Amen.

Feeding America

by Sarah

There's an awfully lot of talk these days about the food we consume in America. Many are thinking about where their food comes from. The movie Food Inc., a documentary about the meat industry in America dives deeper into this issue and the injustice involved.

In addition to problems of injustice and exploitation, believe it or not, hunger is a problem in America. Usually starving orphans in Africa come to mind when I think of hunger. But hunger isn't constrained within the African continent. There is a website dedicated to Feeding America and the stories of those helped in America by this organization.

It's important to recognize that food isn't just food. It's attached to faces. The faces that plant, grow, harvest,  buy and sell the food. Those who aren't paid fair wages and those who are. The hungry homeless woman on the street and the starving child in Africa. Don't get lost in the food and forget about the faces.

Complications

Where do your clothes come from? Do you know who made them? Do you know in what country they were made? Do you know how much each seamstress, each weaver, each spinner was paid? Do you know what their working conditions were like? Do you know how old these workers were? Were they children or adults? Were they getting enough to eat? Were their basic needs being met?

What computer are you using to view this blog? Do you know where each of the parts came from? Do you know where the plastics were made? Where the metals were mined? Where the minerals were extracted? Do you know who the miners were? The ore-smelterers? The factory-workers? Were they paid fairly? Was the ore obtained legally? Was it mined in a war-zone? Were the profits used to pay for weapons? Drugs? Where is your computer going to end up after you are done with it?

Consumerism is Complicated.

Self-Made

I just finished reading Up From Slavery, an autobiography by Booker T. Washington. As an ex-slave, the thing that Washington repeats over and over in this book is that any man - if he proves to society that the work he does is indispensable, and if he lives for the betterment of others - that man will be judged by his merits and not by the color of his skin. Mr. Washington honestly believed this, and by his life's work he proved it to be at least partially true. One of the greatest things about the United States of America is that it generally does allow people who work hard to advance. The self-made man/woman is the symbol of this country. That is, in fact, the very reason why so many immigrants have been attracted here. Let us not forget, however, that some people have a lot farther to climb than others. Booker T. Washington is an exception, not the rule. In this country, as in the rest of the world, racism and prejudice still exist. Most people do not live for the "betterment of others" as Washington urges, but for the betterment of themselves. The driving force of today's America is money. We make a profit by whatever means necessary, and turn a blind eye to sweatshop labor, exploited farmers, toxic waste, etc. Perhaps we need to remember that we are, in fact, not at all self-made. We are God-made. And it is to God that we will have to answer for the people we have stepped on during our upward climb.