I'll walk this way: Journey with poverty (3)

If I could beg you to take nothing else away from this weird blog on poverty, at least take these words from Dorothy Day,

“At least we can avoid being comfortable through the exploitation of others. And at least we can avoid physical wealth as the result of a war economy. There may be ever-improving standards of living in the United States, with every worker eventually owning his own home and driving his own car; but our whole modern economy is based on preparation for war, and this surely is one of the great arguments for poverty in our time.”

I hope we all can start simply make decisions based on whether or not the products we are choosing to buy or consume is exploiting one of our brothers or sisters. Living in our individualistic culture does not help us think of how our actions affect each other. But oh, how they do. Truly, awareness is a gift and a miracle.

If you are so inspired to embrace and love your poverty but are perhaps afraid of the implications of that, maybe these words from Ms. Day will comfort you as well,

“In a world enslavement through installment buying and mortgages, the only way to live in any true security is to live so close to the bottom that when you fall you do not have far to drop, you do not have much to lose.”

Precarity is essential to poverty. But don’t be afraid, though the son of man had nowhere to rest his head, every hair on it was known to the Father. I pray you get to know Lady Poverty more intimately and love her dearly. I pray you see the face of Jesus when you see poverty being experienced by another and also when someone is helping you in your own poverty. And I leave you to meditate on this truth,
Whatever we have beyond our need belongs to the poor.

“At least we can avoid being comfortable through the exploitation of others. And at least we can avoid physical wealth as the result of a war economy. There may be ever-improving standards of living in the United States, with every worker eventually owning his own home and driving his own car; but our whole modern economy is based on preparation for war, and this surely is one of the great arguments for poverty in our time.”