Then Who Can Be Saved?

So The Qweenbean and I somehow ended up on new mailing lists and are now receiving junk mail from groups that clearly have no idea who we are.

One of these bits of propaganda is full of housewares that we could not afford financially or morally. Take a look at this:
It's the Kohler Purist Hatbox Commode. It's $3,000 (I'm including tax, though I figure if you can afford this, you can also afford a way to avoid paying the tax). You put poop in it. Phew, I almost used a bad word there.*

I saw it in the EXPO catalogue that came in the mail yesterday. The rest of the catalogue is full of all kinds of things that I find offensive, but it barely scratches the surface of the kind of world that exists in which this is a good thing.

When I used to remodel rich people's houses I learned there was not only a huge chasm between me and rich people, but also a difference between having a lot of money and being wealthy. Rich people have a lot of money. Sure. A rich person may buy this toilet. Rich people buy lots of things you or I, as not rich people, can look at and see as marks of their richness. But wealthy people are more. In one sense, wealthy people live in a world where it's unnecessary to display the marks of their riches because there's no need to differentiate from those without. It is not about contrast because they/we create the standard for what is. Does that make sense? I mean wealthy people have more than money. They have the power that wealth is; the power to create a world in which we say it is fine to buy this toilet if one can afford it. If one has earned the money to pay for it, it is their right to use the money as they see fit. There is no burden on them to justify this type of life because that is life. It is the kind of life that says it is possible to earn this type of money. It is possible to deserve this and it would be wrong for anyone to try to stop you.

I don't think poor people are more wholesome than rich or wealthy people. If we think there is somehow a greater level of decency or kindness among THE POOR, perhaps we ought to re-examine ourselves and be sure we are not romanticizing evil- especially if that romanticization allows us to be comfortable with the way things are. Poor people are just rich people without money. And if we say God shows a preference for the poor (clearly God must- since there's so many) I don't think we say it is because the insecurity of being poor is better than the stability of having access to resources- starving is better than being fed or dying from preventable diseases is better than receiving healthcare, secure and reliable shelter is worse than living on the street. When we read of prophets in the Old Testament offering woes to those who are comfortable, when we read of Jesus saying we cannot serve wealth and God, do we see that as having to do with owning stuff? Do we see material goods as the problem? Are we saying we affirm the idea we exist as bodies but abhor that these bodies should be cared for? Or do we see that the challenge is against those who are comfortable because the source of their comfort is not in the things but in their ability to pervert justice, the ability to call evil good. I don't mean the error any of us may make when we act selfishly, thoughtlessly, or autonomously and say we had good intentions. I mean the ability to destroy life by writ. The ability to justify ourselves by saying discover rather than conquer, liberate rather than invade, employ rather than steal, evil is good, bitter is sweet. That's wealth.

Last night, Classic Grandpa reminded us that there are those who may steal with a gun and those who steal with a pen. That's exactly what a Classic Grandpa would say. Hippy folky. We should also see that there are those who steal and destroy and what they do we call neither stealing nor destroying.

* Tony Campolo used to do this magic trick in which he would be speaking about acts of evil in the world and then use a bit of what we call "vulgarity" and then comment on how people were probably more upset about the bit of vulgarity than they were about the acts of evil. That's funny magic.

Softly in the Background
Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys