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 StarvationThe illusion that there is not enough is one of the most spiritually destructive concepts affecting contemporary thought — philosophical, political, economic and social. This illusion has been partly grounded in past education on over-population. We have become so accustomed to the notion of limited resources that we have suffered under a similar scarcity of belief in human creativity. We not only doubt our creativity but also our ability to be responsible with what we create. Granted, physical resources are limited in the sense that we all live on the same planet and space travel remains distant for the present few generations. However, today the economic life of much of the affluent nations is continually expanding into the unlimited resource of information. If the U.S. as the largest food producer in the world uses less that 2% of its labor to feed not only itself but many other lands, why do we live in fear of there not being enough? In a country such as Japan with no natural resources, it is education and the creative re-channeling of resources from other lands that allows its manufacturing industry to be one of the largest economies in the world. The US economy, largest in the world, is estimated to be 85% based on non-manufacturing and non-agricultural production — namely the information based economy of technology, communication, health services, and finances. This figure is only increasing. In contrast, in such lands as Nigeria and most of the least developed countries (LDCs), while they have abundant resources and a youthful population, the spiraling conditions of poverty continue to undermine their progress forward as human persons. There is enough food for all the people in the world to be well fed without a threat to the wealthy in this world. There exists enough creativity in the world to allow the world to be fed without a fear that the collapse of the agricultural markets and possible world economy would occur in the case of an expanded supply of food stuffs. Feeding people will not only enrich the global economy. Such action will unleash the spiritual resources that are needed for the establishment of a more solid political, economic and social order. We are suffering under a crises in mentality and responsibility — which means a crises in leadership. This is not only the case in the rampant political corruption and cronyism in the least developed countries. More significantly there is a crises in leadership among us, the affluent, in our temerity to act. This fear is due to an ignorance on the essential spiritual resources we need. We will not find courage in further reflection upon ourselves, navel gazing for solutions for someone else. The solution exists in our leaving our fear and stepping forward. By our interaction with the poor, they will share their spiritual resources which we the wealthy are in dire need. These resources are revealed not individually, but collectively.  In the areas of development, the first and basic right to life must be seen as the right for every human being to eat. This comes before the right to save, store, or draw a frontier of security eliminating whole regions from our vision. While we are currently debating over what is human, for the billions of people who are already recognized as human, this basic need of food and sustenance is a necessary structure for all government decision making. For those with the power, more is expected.This is a spiritual principle essential in the social teaching of Christians — for those who are given more, more is expected of them. Responsibility in feeding the poor is not an issue for the leaders of poor nations. We are using national boundaries as a spiritual mask to hide behind our assuming our responsibilities as Christians. This is even more deceptive when we continue to attract through financial and other incentives the brains of these same poor lands to leave their people and come stay with us in complacency. We must become involved — significantly — in the issues of starvation and the larger concern of poverty. Indifference is dangerous for us. Worse is the current approach of making no significant commitment on our part through verbal pronouncements of support or trivial contributions that drug our consciences from assuming the role of service given us. We have the information internationally to analyze what is needed to feed those on this planet and we have the resources and creativity to do so. Let's delve into the spiritual foundation that summons courage and sacrifice to make change possible. Finally, I would like to speak of the danger in our ways of thinking concerning "bigness." We defeat ourselves with the size of the issue rather than confronting concerns in terms of our talents and abilities. Starvation is defeated by targeting specific concerns and beginning. The complexities of the issue are to be expected as we begin and as we learn. However, as we move forward with an intention to change reality, God's spirit acts to support the first step with a series of complementary and deeper rooted developments that lead to the change of structures. We must expect that when we begin to act, that we will be corrected and others might well be the ones who take over the lead. However, our call as the affluent is to commit who we are and what we have in a beginning way. It is a response to a call. We do not see the whole picture because we cannot. The vision takes shape as we embrace others and let go of our paralyzing spiritual assumptions.  Fear of bigness is a crises of faith. We have become stuck gazing upon our own abilities, and as a result we collapse through the truthful recognition of our own limitations. Without divinity, without God at our side, we do nothing other than expand our ego to the point when the bubble of pride meets its necessary burst. Faith in God initiates our action and places our confidence not in our efforts but in a God who wants people to be cared for. More importantly, what God asks, God makes possible.We have a type of spiritual stinginess, lack of vision, when we believe that God does not provide enough for us or for the world. We slip into a competition over a scarcity that is a lie which leads to dangerous boundaries and borders that stockpile resources for fearful days of scarcity. In the area of starvation, think of specific means of assisting. Start with a family or individual and with time widen the involvement to include a whole school, a town and then a country. The children of Los Angeles through the Holy Childhood Association began with an orphanage for 14 kids in Owerri, Nigeria. Then they moved to 100's of street kids in Luanda. Now it is homes for the victims of the recent earthquake in El Salvador affecting thousands. Every project unfolds a creativity on many layers of involvement. I strongly invite you to join yourself to others working in this area of poverty and starvation such as the Christian groups: (Catholic)Campaign for Human Development Catholic Relief Services Bread for the World Cafod It is important that we realize that when we begin to act we will be surrounded by a whole group of actors. This being alone in facing this issue of starvation and the larger concern of poverty is a lie. We have God and God knits a whole community around us. We simply need to take one step forward with God. Reflection upon Christ's multiplication of the fishes and loaves has political and economic implications; not because everything in the bible is political but because everything political and economic has roots in the spiritual - God's design and will for all of creation. Gazing at only ourselves, we do not see our meager fishes and loaves as enough. Because outside of God, it is not. But in recognizing God's presence, and will, we are led by that voice that renews and invites us to let go of our stinginess. We recover an awareness of abundance as the actual condition of reality. Pray so that we might change the world as God desires it to be and that we become responsible for all that has been given us. — Fr. Dave Ayotte  I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, Matthew 25:35-36 |
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