About 2 weeks ago a school teacher was killed in Laurel, Ms. There was some speculation about why she was killed, she had been bound and stabbed and her body set on fire. Her vehicle was missing. By all accounts, it was a gruesome death. When a young couple was arrested, the boy was about 24, and the girl 17, the story was told, although they are still bickering over who stabbed her. Apparently they had asked to use her phone, with the covert intention of stealing her big screen T.V. She asked them if they wanted to eat with her. They did. Then the man knocked her out and bound her hands and feet. Stabbing her to death yielded $30.00 dollars and, I presume, a big screen T.V.
The following week was Thanksgiving, and most stores, including Wal-Mart were having Black Friday sales. So from 5 a.m to noon you have a chance to fight over a limited amount of discounted merchandise, and I think the actual scam is that once you're in there and they're out of what you wanted, you'll buy something else anyway, for pretty much regular price. Big screen T.V.s are one of the heavily discounted items. At a store in New York state, Wal-Mart shoppers trampled one of the workers to death when he opened the door. Trampled him to death over a discounted big screen T.V.
I can't help noticing these two incidents are not unrelated. Both are products of our society of American Consumerism. Our power in the world is no longer our army, but our spending. As long as American consumers are spending, the world is turning. But now that our economy is in a recession, will the world continue to turn? Some may wonder. Our own government has sold us this lie of consumerism in shameless self promotion. Can't get a house loan? We'll set you up with predatory lenders. Can't afford the white house and white picket fence? That's O.K., the new American dream is big screen T.V.s and DVD players, video games, and automobiles. Everything else is out of the reach of the average American now. So people are trying to fill the void in their lives with electronics and little gadgets. And people are noticing it's not working, but instead of cashing in their chips, we just keep on looking for the next little piece of happiness.
The first thing we have to do is realize that our possessions are not going to bring us any real happiness, any real sense of peace. Poverty has many spiritual benefits, especially here in America, the land of relativism. Poverty, apart from Love of God, is nothing but misery. But poverty, in God's Love, buying and owning less than you want, and less than you need, is freedom.
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2 comments:
To remember the poverty of others, we used to go to mass then deliver meals to the homebound, and some to the homeless before we began our celebration at home. What is there in Hattiesburg to do to remember others that are sometimes forgotten? Ideas that do not cost much money?
Tonya
Good question. It would be possible to take food to the homeless on Sunday Morning, although I usually make my rounds to the homeless camps on Saturday mornings and have been attending Saturday evening mass alot. I usually don't go to the homeless camps after lunch for safety reasons. There are many people in poverty in Hattiesburg. Holy Rosary Church might have some good ideas for us.
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