In recent weeks we have heard a lot about the economy. Going back to its Greek roots, the word ‘economy’ recalls household management. It is about the management of our house and its contents. The space we call ‘home’ is dear to us all because it protects and creates a living space for its inhabitants. But sometimes we create a cult out of our houses. This is an erroneous reasoning and way of living.
The same applies to the economy: if it is not directed towards humanity and its integration with the rest of the planet, it is doomed to fail, even if statistics say otherwise.
According to Pope Francis: “When money, instead of man, is at the centre of the system, when money becomes an idol, men and women are reduced to simple instruments of a social and economic system”. The result is a culture of waste, for instance; waste of our time: the time we spend creating wealth and the time we spend enjoying it with our dear ones; our land: the land we’re wasting in speculation; or waste of life: the proposed legislation to allow embryo freezing.
Thanks to the Christian Life Community, to which I belong, and with reference to a reflection by A. Abela in the National Catholic Register, I would like to share three implications for our lives if we want to disassociate ourselves in practice from this culture of waste, rooted in this erroneous reasoning:
1. Choose to strive to ensure that your work and investments help promote what is true, beautiful and good, while creating communion. Decisions on where to work, what to consume and what to support could range from everyday choices at the supermarket to life-committing decisions concerning a career or a workplace.
Give your family an honest and generous amount for its financial needs and its holistic growth, then use the rest to help others, particularly the poor
2. Choose to transform your work and investment into acts of service. Work and wealth give us power. How am I using the power given to me at work? If I am working in a profit-making or State entity, do I try to direct the wealth created towards sharing more wealth for all or just for the pleasure of a few?
This is a challenge one can put to oneself whether one is a recently elected Member of Parliament or if one’s role influences a much smaller number of people.
3. Choose to give your family an honest and generous amount for its financial needs and its holistic growth, then use the rest to help others, particularly the poor.
The definition of our ‘house’ as the four walls within which we live might be a limited vision of reality. As much as I receive from my house, I also receive from my town, workplace, country and the earth itself. So I should also be responsible enough to take care of this ‘common home’, again not only the earth itself but also those who inhabit it. The poor are the weakest inhabitants of this planet. Choose to give the poor some of your time, money and self.
These choices might not appear in statistics but they will light a candle of hope in the people around you. These choices might not increase cash flow in the country, but they will make a difference in the relationships and growth of the individual and society.
Choosing humanity before money unfortunately goes against today’s culture, but I prefer to create around me a culture of love rather than a scrooge culture; a culture of true hope rather than of hope based on cash; I prefer to create a culture of authenticity rather than a culture of falsehood.
tonimifsud@yahoo.com