RESOURCES: Country should share, not hoard
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 2 weeks, 6 days AGO
“Also, the abundance of the earth is for everyone; the king is dependent on the tilled field.” (Eccl 5:8 LXX). It’s interesting how a brief sentence can remind us of society’s interdependencies and of how the powerful depend on the labors of the least among them for their own well-being.
How mindful are we of all the people involved in providing the food and services that sustain us? The interwoven web that supports our daily lives is intricate — there are so many people we depend on. Yes, even the king depends on the tilled fields and on those who till and harvest them, transport the produce, sell it, cook it, and serve it, and on all those who support them in their lives.
Yet many of the people who provide those goods and services for all of us are exploited, especially by those who have the most and could afford to be generous. The wealthy seem to have an emptiness they can’t fill, so they grab for more, hoping that somehow it will satiate them.
How many of our country’s resources are directed toward those truly in need? Programs that feed and heal people have been cut, and some deride those who received benefits as unworthy, using that to justify the cuts. Yet they forget that we do not give to people for who they are — we give to people because of who we are.
How much is spent on weapons of war and not on the medicines of healing and foods that nourish? Media can manipulate us so that the rich are worshiped, and the poor are spurned. Is this who we are?
ERNEST WARNER
Coeur d’Alene