Wednesday 28 November 2001
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Pic of the day: Information Overlord. It could have been me ... OK, perhaps not. Root of all evil
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that
is coming upon you.
Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.
Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against
you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last
days.
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are
crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the
ears of the Lord Almighty.
You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened
yourselves in the day of slaughter.
You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing
you.
In other news, the multinational electronics company Ericsson is running a loss that seems to amount to well above $2,000,000,000 this year. They have reasonably axed 10 000 jobs, and the departments are instructed to avoid christmas gifts to the workers and other christmas celebrations. At the same time it becomes known that the bosses are looking forward to bonuses of up to 40% of their (already fairly generous) yearly income. (The top boss in Sweden already earns as much as 150 workers.) Do you want to know what I think about this? I think they are lower than swine. I think these men (for they are, of course, mostly men) should be shunned by all honest people, and upon their death their graves should become seats of defecation for decades to come, until their name is forgotten from Earth. That's how I feel about it. What a blasphemy it is when the rich and greedy go to church to sing praises to God, and to he who came to bear good tidings to the poor. When did you guys bear good tidings to the poor? And do you really think your voice of song is so pretty that it will change the mind of the Almighty, so that He sides with you against the underdog? ***
The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There
were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought.
He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his
food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a
daughter to him.
Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from
taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler
who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the
poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely
as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing
and had no pity."
Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!"
You know what really stinks when I finally get to damn some certified sinner? I tend to find out that I do the same, on some scale or measure. This should come as no surprise, for already the apostle Paul wrote: "You do the same, you who judge!" And of course there is a reason for this. To implicate a less scriptural source, C.G. Jung found out through carefully controlled experiments that the more agitated people were about someone else's wrongdoing, the more likely that they had the same tendency in themselves, whether or not they actively practiced it. A study which I'm sad to say I no longer am able to find also found that a group of homophobes had a sexual reaction to same-sex nudity that was intermediate between that of random straight men and open homosexuals. (This study was memorable in that they measured the reaction by means of a ring around the male reproductive organ, which measured even minute changes in the blood flow there. But I digress.) When it comes to the dubious acquisition and enjoyment of worldly riches, I don't really fit into the class of self-congratulating bosses who grab more and more of the company's income, while sending the workers off to an uncertain fate. And I do not aspire to that club either. But I suppose we are not very different seen from Namibia or Bangladesh or other struggling third-world countries. What do we care about the fate of the people who pick our bananas or sew our sports shoes? Don't get me wrong, I still think that trade is better than aid. With the possible exception of Myanmar (Burma), these people probably don't go to work at gunpoint. They go because the farm where they grew up can no longer feed both them and their brother. It never could. A few centuries ago, they would have starved to death or fallen in the tribal wars that checked population growth. Or even more likely, they would have died as babies, back when postnatal care amounted to sacrificing a chicken to the forest spirits. Still, I think we can safely say that they are being shortchanged. There's no way we're doing to them what we would have wanted others to do unto us. Not that I have any great ideas about how to change this. Probably because I haven't given it so much thought, since I'm mostly occupied with having fun. There are supposedly some goods marked with an elephant logo that are imported on fair terms, and of course there is always the Hungersite for the quick cheap band-aid on the conscience. ***
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing
must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only
One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "`Do not murder, do not
commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
honor your father and mother,' and `love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great
wealth.
That is indeed a good question. Another good question is: If he had already loved his neighbor as himself, how came he had great wealth? Did he have particularly wealthy neighbors? I suppose that is the case with me. I have so wealthy neighbors that I don't feel rich at all. Quite the opposite. Only occasionally do I get a glimpse of the world out there, and it dismays me. And the worst part is that it probably dismays me more because I may be going to hell (on tourist class, no less) instead of because I genuinely empathize with the really poor people. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1. Corinthians 13, as if I needed to tell you.) -So far, I only know that I love one person like myself; so until further notice, I intend to hold on to both my body and most of my money. But it is kinda sad to not at all measure up to one's religion. ***
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into
many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and
destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager
for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs.
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
Well, hmm, I don't think I actually actively love money or want to get rich. I just kinda like to have a nice comfortable life without pain or want or too much trouble. You would think that wasn't too much to ask for. At least if you don't live with someone who died on a cross for other people's sins. Talk about getting an inferiority complex ... but hey, it could be worse. I could been one of those bosses, and have several tens of thousands of working men just itching to ram a red-hot soldering iron up my rectum. I guess I may have chosen the good portion, after all, or at least a reasonably allright one. And it can still get better, I hope. That's why we live. We don't leave the building till class is over. I'm sorry this is not as encouraging as I would like it to be. It is kind of like an unripe fruit, with the right shape but not the sweet flavor and healthy content of the finished product. I would not normally do this to you, but I want to record it even so because this is me too. I can only apologize for any hurt it may cause. |
Rain, as is good and proper. |
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