IN 2019 … I’d like to finally understand the chronic disparity between wealth and poverty. Is it necessary for so many to go without for the few to thrive? I don’t know the answer. It just seems pointless and wrong for so many to go homeless and hungry, while people are driving cars worth a quarter of a million dollars.
I need to stress that I’m not an economist or a social scientist, so much of my puzzlement is likely based on ignorance. And it’s not as if big picture solutions haven’t been tried, with nearly apocalyptic results (see Union, Soviet).
But there’s a profligacy built into daily life that is breathtaking when you think of it. Luxury automobiles with heated bun warmers, purses that sell for $10,000, made with $5 dollars’ worth of material. With apologies to Oscar Wilde, we know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
My wish is for everyone to have enough. My pledge (to myself) is to learn more about the gulf between wealth and poverty and seek ways to “be the change”.
It’s about time. I should have started a long time ago, but I’ve got to start somewhere.