InSpiritry

• Bridges are collapsing, and toll roads are replacing public roads.
• American public schools are underfunded while the U.S. funds weapons deals.
• The planet is melting while energy companies thrive.
• Children are going without healthcare while insurance company profits are higher than ever.
• The number of working poor increases by the day, while billionaires get tax cuts.
• Whole countries are in ruins while lavish resorts flourish.
• Hundreds of thousands have been killed in battles, while religiously funded genocide rages unfettered.
• Corporations reap huge profits from violence, while young soldiers leave their families to die.

I have long held that a budget is a moral document, but never has there been more evidence that a budget (yours, mine or America’s) can also be an immoral document! Finances are certainly not the only indicator of the nature of a society. Still, how we spend our money does suggest our ethical values…and right now, in the U.S. and other places, it seems our most important core value is “more for me.”

Look in your own checkbook. Think of your church’s or synagogue’s budget. Then your city’s, your state’s. Are we taking care of each other or just ourselves? Do we stop when we have enough and share the rest? What does it say about our priorities? What in the world would God think?

Now consider your city’s budget or your state’s or our budget in Washington! If the constitution reflects our core values — our hopes and dreams for this amazing country of ours, then our government budgets are our actuation of those hopes. No less a moral document than our great Bill of Rights!

So how are we doing — or put another way, how moral are we? How do the things that every citizen should count on (education, healthcare, a living wage, Social Security, roads and bridges, air, water, safety) stack up against the monuments to our greed (tax loopholes, corporate lobbies, special interests,  pet projects, military aggression for oil, etc.)?

Isn’t it time we were honest with ourselves? Our personal budgets, corporate budgets and government budgets don’t lie. We have let ourselves believe gluttony is OK. We have told each other that we deserve what we have–that the pursuit of ”success” excuses who we have to hurt to get it.

For those of us who try to practice InSpiritry, this is a disturbing time. We know the Greater Good can only be served when our finances follow our intentions, but then we wait for someone else to do something about it.

Let’s find the courage to take actions that serve not one…not some…but all!

With this in mind, I wrote a poem a few months ago for a dear friend–a Peace Corps volunteer, a husband and father, a church member, a federal judge, a great guy. He has never forgotten that we serve each other! Here’s an excerpt from the poem:

Ethics

In this time of plenty

there is no greater danger

than our comfort.

The most menacing poison hides

in the very cups at the banquet

of our acquired wealth.

:

:

This day as our blessing,

let us look round the table

of those present in our lives

and swear to God and each other

that we will honor justice

by celebrating the saints

whose lives are spent sharing

with others the holy bounty

of their simple, earthly portion.

InSpiritry Calls Us to Courageous Action!
You can be a blessing!

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There is so much happening in the world!

To know how to respond requires our attention, our discernment and our Greater Good thinking. The problem is that most of us count on one or two sources for our information.  As a result, we Americans develop our ideas about things based on a western, mostly Anglo version of the world without realizing there are other points of view.

Consider how Iceland might view our resistance to environmental wisdom or how South Africa looks at China’s burgeoning economy or what Palestians think of the war in Iraq.

InSpiritry calls us to see ourselves as part of a global family. If you are ready to do that, here are some outlets you might visit. America’s freedom of information is an amazing gift, but we must listen for other voices if we want to understand the world.

A word of warning — this can be a study in open-minded contemplation! (more…)

Both the marketplace and the political world have seen a “dangerous erosion of the rules and principles” that have made American economy thrive in the past…“Instead of thinking about what’s good for America or what’s good for business,” he said, “a mentality has crept into certain corners of Washington and the business world that says, “what’s good for me is good enough.” Baltimore Sun article, September 17, 2007

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

These comments were made by Presidential candidate, Barak Obama, in a speech at NASDAQ this week where he chastising Wall Street values. Whether we support Senator Obama or not, his remarks are worth noting and worth expanding past financial considerations to the world at large. I think it is safe (and sad) to say that most of us operate with the mentality he described: what’s good for me is good enough.

You might ask: 

• What’s the problem with that? (more…)

Today, six years post 9-11, there are stories to be told.

(more…)

Think back to your childhood. What did you want to be when you grew up? A teacher? A fireman? An astronaut? A civil rights attorney? A United Nations ambassador? President of the United States?

Like so many little girls, I had ambitious ideas about growing up to be someone who would make a difference in the world…yes, to even be President of the United States.

(more…)