"In a sense we are all hungry and in need, but we don't recognize it. With plenty to eat in the deeprfreeze, with a roof over our heads and a car in the garage., we assume that the empty feeling inside must be just a case of the blues that can be cured by a a weekend in the country or an extra martini at lunch or the purchase of a color TV. The poor on the other hand are under no such delusion."(F Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 201)
Today our government raised the "debt ceiling" while hacking away a large chunk of expenditures. Depending on which side of the aisle your lenses view the world, you see both things as good and bad. I honestly don't understand numbers this big, I especially can't relate to the people who make these decisions because they all have more net worth than I'll ever have and probably have never experienced real material poverty.
Frankly compared to many people in the world I hardly qualify as poor either. I probably pay 20% of my income to taxes when you factor it all together. While I won't claim that I wouldn't mind paying less, I do know what I'd like to believe the taxes that I pay are being used for.
And that in may be what makes this such a divisive issue. Why money will cause us to lose our minds and ultimately our souls. When I lose sight of the negative impact on folks worse off than me is, then I've become a tad to self absorbed. I always told myself that when I paid the Social Security part of my tax, to put a face to that money, and since I had grandparents and now parents, and certainly in my vocation others who rely heavily on those checks, I could make that sacrifice.
At the moment I find myself trying not to cave in to the fear that we may be about to exasperate an already humongous problem.
Blessings,
Ed
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