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:Distribution of wealth
If
we look at our world we can see that there are two extremes. The extremely
rich and the extremely poor. Luxembourg is the richest country in the
world according to it's Gross National Product. The average person in
that country earns approximately $40,000 per year while in Sudan the average
person earns $63. That is a colossal difference in wealth. If we look
at a map of the world we can see that most of the world's developed countries
lie north of the equator while the majority of developing countries lie
south. This can also be referred to at times as the 'Physical Quality
of Life Index Line'. If we look at the U.S.A. We can see that it possesses
the most Billionaires with the figure reaching 145. This is a tremendous
amount of money concentrated among a minute percentage of the world's
population. We would have to consider this as extreme inequality. Bill
Gates the present owner of the Microsoft Coporation is the richest non-royal
person in the world with assests estimated at $30 billion. If we took
a number of developing countries and added up their present finances it
would barely reach that figure.
In
the film industry collosal amounts of money are being payed to the actors
and actresses. An example of this would be Arnold Swarzhenneger who pulled
in approxiametly 74 million dollars for his role in the 'Terminator'.
Opera Whinfrey earned 171 million dollars for one show recently. This
is really beyond my comprehension, no one deserves that amount of money
for such a task as acting.
Another
way in which inequality can be shown is by looking at the 'Per Capita
Expenditure' values. In the U.S.A. The average American would spend around
$16,500 per annum, with a similar situation in Japan where the average
citizen would spend $19,700 per year. Now looking at the values for some
of the poorer countries in the world I can see that for Somalia their
average expenditure for one year comes to a total of $17. A massive difference
between the two.
However
in calling a country poor what exactly are we saying? The fianancial position
of a country has to be compared to anothers in order to refer to it as
poor. It would sometimes be called relative poverty. For example we could
say that Great Britain is poor in comparison with a country such as Japan.
By looking at the GNP and the PCE we could see once again a great difference
in the two. Yet we know that the standard of living in GB is quite high.
Poverty is only labelled upon a country through its relation with other
countrie's financial positions.
By
looking at the above facts and figures it becomes quite clear that the
statement is quite correct in what it tells us. What is a developed and
undeveloped country? From my own knowledge I would give the definition
of a developed country as one which has established a stable financial
situation, has good health-care, and possesses a fairly good educational
system. Taking developing nations I would define these as countries which
have no stable economy, poor sanitation and health-care, and a quite poor
educational system. A lot of the countries in today's world fit this description
almost exactly while a good number of countries mainly above the PQLI
line fit the first description. This definitely shows the inequality in
modern day society.
One
quarter of the world's population lives in the developed North and has
four fifths of the world's wealth at its disposal. In these developing
countries there are a number of problems resulting from this great poverty:
Firstly
the poverty of the country itself is a great problem. Many nations spend
their money on fairly silly items such as arms when it could be spent
more suitably. The reason for their investment in arms is that a lot of
developing countries have political problems and quite a number are at
war. The world bank which provides loans to these countries expects it's
money returned along with interest charges and a lot of these countries
can barely afford to repay just the money loaned. Therefore they borrow
more money to pay off the first loan. It is a never-ending cycle which
leaves these nations constantly in debt. An idea which has been suggested
is to cancel all debts and begin again yet many are relunctant to do this.
A lot of the money which people rightfully earn through production and
exportation never reaches their pockets as retailers and transporters
take the majority of the profit therefore the hard-working person in that
country receives a very small amount of the profit. Secondly we have hunger
and there are two forms of this. They include starvation and malnutrition.
Starvation being where the people don't have enough to eat. This is a
problem which many organisations have tried to solve by actually giving
food to the people and also by giving them the means to produce their
own by providing seeds, tools etc. Malnutrition is where there is enough
food but it doesn't provide a balanced diet. There is very little that
can be done about this as helping organisations do not have the means
in which to meet every nutritional need. This can also be due to a shortage
of water, but the people's own lack of knowledge and national disasters
would also be responsible.
Thirdly
we have disease which occurs because of poor sanitation, poor nutrition
and lack of money. Vaccinations and medicines can be used to help this
situation but again it costs money and it is very hard to aid everyone
in a country medically. Finally we have the population explosion in which
people are convinced they need a large family to go out and earn money
and to take care of them in their old age. These are all problems which
occur in still developing countries.
What
can we do to help the situation. The example which I am going to use to
illustrate my answer will be the situation in East Timor.
In
October 1999 the Irish Government was urged to adopt East Timor as it's
priority for overseas funding. Trocaire has been doing a lot of work ever
since but C.A.F.O.D, the Catholic Association for Overseas Develpoment,
was one of the first international agencies to become involved with the
situation in East Timor. They have been working with the Catholic Church
and non-religious organisations like itself. It has programmes in the
area for locating the East Timorese C.A.F.O.D. Workers and it's associates.
They want to build their offices and to get them up and running so that
aid can be given. The aid includes providing shelter, household assistance,
health programmes and providing maize for the workers so that they can
reduce the food insecurity in the short term.
C.A.F.O.D.
is currently organising a major emergency grant from E.C.H.O. (European
Community Humanitarian Organisation) for it's workers in the east and
for Caritas Indonesia (an associate) in the west.
As
well as helping the worse off nations of the world the Catholic Fund for
Overseas Development asks us to remember what Jesus taught us about helping
the poor. It concerns prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Matthew tells us
about these.
In
Matthew 6:6 Jesus said,.
"When
you pray go to your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is
unseen. And your Father who sees what you do in private will reward you".
This
shows us that by praying we will help those who we pray for and be rewarded
for it.
In
Matthew 6: 17-18 we are told about fasting,
"When
you go without food, wash your face and comb your hair, so that others
cannot
know
that you are fasting - only your Father. And your Father will reward you".
In
these words I think that Jesus meant that by helping others in today's
world we will be rewarded for our work in heaven even though the rewards
may not seem great on earth. God tells us that in helping others will
shall receive the fruit of our reward when in his heavenly kingdom
Matthew
6: 2-3 tells about charity,
"When
you give to a needy person do not make a big show of it, as the hypocrites
do..... do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know
about it".
All
of these words spoken by Jesus are trying to show us what our attitude
should be toward giving and this is encouraged by C.A.F.O.D. These are
three ways of giving to those in need.
Christians
are members of God's church and this church, whatever it's denomination,
is teaching us that charity should be part of everyone's life. The Vatican
II instructed Christians using God's saying, "Feed the man dying
of hunger, for if you do not feed him, you are killing him".
Christianity
has been face to face with poverty for years in a never-ending battle
as it may seem. The Roman Catholic church in the Catechism making a number
of different statements about charity. It stated that developed countries
have a moral responsibility toward those which are unable to ensure the
means of their development by themselves. This Catechism makes a lot of
other points toward the subject of charity. It also states that charity
work or 'works of mercy' are part of a Christian's duty. Charity is part
of a church tradition and the beatitudes inspire this love. The ten commandments
also teach us about charity. The seventh commandment joins the practice
of justice in charity in the administration of earthly goods as the goods
of creation are designed for all of humanity, not just the rich. In the
story of the rich young man we are shown a young person's reaction to
Jesus telling him that if he sold everything he had and gave the money
to the poor he would inherit eternal life however, he could not do this.
Jesus pointed out that,
"It
is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel
to pass
through
the eye of a needle".
He
also told us that,
"Those
who come first will be last and those who come last will be first".
These
are all ways in which Jesus showed us that giving to the poor was right.
In
Corinthians 11: 17-22 we are shown how Paul makes several teachings on
poverty, charity and disease. I feel it makes a close reference toward
the situation in today's world. In this reading Paul reacts to the people's
coming together for a meeting in the church at the time. They come together
and eat and drink while some remain hungry others eat very well. It reads,
"When
you come together it is not the Lord's supper you eat, for as you eat
each of you
goes
ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry while the other
gets
drunk".
We
can relate this to our own global situation where one part has all the
money while the other has almost nothing. Paul seems very angry at the
situation so how should we feel as Christians about the state of our time.
In
Mark 12: 41-44 we are shown how a poverty stricken woman donates one penny
while the rich add handfuls of money to the poor box. Yet Jesus tells
us that the woman donated more money than any of the rich people as she
had very little money of her own yet contributed. The story tells us that
it is not only the rich who should donate to these causes. C.A.F.O.D.
is willing to take any donation and put it to use in any of it's programmes.
The
original charity story would be the good Samaritan where a man was beaten
and robbed. Two people passed him and finally a Samaritan man came along.
He cleaned the man up, put wine on his wounds and took him to an Inn.
The Samaritan is this story was an enemy of the man he cared for yet he
did so anyway.
This
story shows us that a Christian should show charity even to his/her worst
enemy as the Good Samaritan did.
All
of these parables show me an indication of what a Christian's attitudes
should be to poverty.
Christians
react to organisations such as C.A.F.O.D. by giving donations and joining
missionaries out in foreign countries. In East Timor this donated money
is used in building shelters, providing food and giving the people the
chance to bring themselves out of this state by supplying seeds and tools.
There
are many different ways and organisations which can help the underdeveloped
countries of the world. Christians must play a leading role in this help
living by what Christ has taught us about charity, poverty and wealth.
It is vitally important that organisations such as C.A.F.O.D. and Trocaire
continue in the great work that they are doing and we learn that these
countries need our help. Maybe through this help we can make the world's
resources and wealth more equal.
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