‘I am because we are’ – voting & community
Peter Beck, Dean of Christchurch
| 31 Oct 2008
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In Uganda, when something tragic happens, the women sit down on the ground and mourn. ‘It’s always a corporate experience,’ said John Sentamu, a native of Uganda and the current Archbishop of York, in an address he gave recently, ‘because we are persons through other persons. I am because we are.’
Politics, of course, is about people. Every action we take or don’t take is political. It affects the actions, re-actions and inter-relationships between people. Every action or inaction I take is part of the whole, universal activity of humanity, and plays its part in the directing of that activity. Thank God this country is a democracy. It is a precious right that we each have to vote. How we will cast that vote will reflect what we believe in and the nature of our commitment to the whole community of which we are part. It is a crucially important right that we need to exercise wisely. ‘I am because we are’.
Dr Sentamu said he was about to attend a meeting to launch a campaign of 'Education for All' as part of the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of global poverty by 2015. Of course, he said, for such a target to be achieved there needs to be stable financial systems. Without a solid global economic base to work from, the eradication of world poverty would be an even greater task.
At the time the Archbishop spoke, the President of the United States had announced a US$700 billion bailout plan for banks and financial institutions. That, as we all know, has grown into trillions of dollars in an attempt to stem the economic meltdown we have brought upon ourselves.
One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5 billion to save six million children's lives. World leaders could find hundreds of times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they now tell us that action for the poorest on the planet is too expensive? ‘I am because we are’.
To my mind, our present world predicament is an affront to God. We are greedy for more. This is the prevailing culture, and we are all infected by it. And yet, while many of the readers of this article are not Christian, most I fancy would empathise with the vision that Jesus sought to live his life by. It was one of a world as he believed God’s love would have it be: where the weak are protected and none go hungry or poor, where the resources and blessings of life are shared and cared for so that everyone can enjoy them, where every human being and God’s good creation is treated with dignity and respect, and where peace is build on justice and justice is guided by love.
Such a vision is challenging indeed because it forces us to look beyond ourselves to the needs and aspirations of others. It’s a bind for those of us who are so comfortably off, because taking an interest in the needs of others and opening our eyes to the disparities and injustices that so many have to put up with must threaten our material life-style, the creature comforts, and so-called standard of living [if not quality of life] which we believe are ours by right, without consideration of the cost for others and for our environment.
But when we clear away the dross, and pause, and look beyond our fascination with the next product; when we refuse to be seduced by the slick advertising that is all around us, then there is a chance that we can come to our truer selves, and embrace the opportunities and challenges of really living life to the full, of becoming who we are, children of God, made of love and for love, here to make a difference for good.
If the Wall Street speculators and greed merchants that we have allowed to cause the present economic crisis had such a vision, then what a different economic regime there would be in the world, and what a degree of sharing there would be for all people. The old slogan may be cute, but it is as urgent as ever it has been – ‘to live more simply so that others may simply live’. Or as Bishop John Taylor said some years ago ‘if you pray for peace you are praying for a reduction in your standard of living’.
If the quality of life of any society is judged by the quality of life of the most vulnerable in our society, then we should join the women of Uganda and sit down on the ground and join in their lament because ‘I am because we are’.
As we prepare to vote in our General Election, are we more concerned about the level of tax cut we will get, or how the taxes, which in other words are our common wealth, are be used by those whom we will elect to govern us? It’s a crucial question for each one of us as we decide not only on who, but what we will vote for.
Here’s a Franciscan prayer which is giving me food for thought:
May God bless you with discomfort,
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger,
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears,
To shed for those who suffer from pain,
rejection, starvation, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
and turn their pain to joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness,
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
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