National Advocacy Center
  • Who We Are
    • About
    • Staff & Advisory Board
    • Partners
    • Good Shepherd Sisters
    • Of Note News >
      • Of Note Archives 2022
      • Of Note Archives 2021
      • Of Note Archives 2020
      • Of Note Archives 2019
      • Of Note Archives 2018
      • Of Note Archives 2017
      • Of Note Archives 2016
      • Of Note Archives 2015
    • Contact
  • Act for Justice
    • Road to Justice
    • Human Trafficking Conference >
      • HT Packet & Digital Toolkit
    • Giving
    • Outreach
  • Issues
    • Central America
    • Economic Justice
    • End Racism
    • Human Trafficking >
      • Know the Signs
      • Trafficking Resources
    • Immigration & Refugees
    • Muslim Relations
    • Women & Children
  • Resources
    • Advocacy Tools
    • Analysis for Action
    • Poetry Library

A Vision for a Better World (Part 2 of 2)

6/24/2020

3 Comments

 
Someone has blown the whistle and we all have had to get out of the pool.  As we stand around the pool, shivering and looking cautiously at each other, we have time to reflect on what we are doing. 

As individuals, we are rather helpless creatures.  But as members of society, we can be incredibly wealthy and powerful.  Yet our society cannot end at some arbitrary border where once we cross it, anything goes. 

​We need to free ourselves of the belief that we are competing for limited resources.  The human species has survived by sharing and cooperation.  While hoarding may have limited benefits for a brief time for an individual, society has a whole cannot survive that way and the world community certainly cannot.
Picture
This vision is contrary to the vision propagated by many who are currently in power.  In their view of the world, America wins when it gets the best deal for itself even if it means that a poor nation will become even poorer, that the environment will be totally wrecked, that local people will be denied clean water to drink and fresh air to breathe.  In response to the inevitable outcry of people in poverty, we militarize our police and sell weapons to corrupt governments to put down legitimate protests.
​
With COVID-19, we have been forced to pause for a moment.  If we are open to it, this could be a moment of grace.  In many ways, humanity is racing toward a cliff of extinction and dragging the rest of the world with it.  Scientists estimate that between 200 and 2,000 species become extinct each year.  We are called to be stewards of the earth.  But we cannot be good stewards if our only thought is enrichment either as individuals or as a nation.

In the United States, the wealth gap increases each year.  The top 10 percent average more than nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent.  Worldwide, the wealth disparity is equally alarming.  Individuals owning over $100,000 in assets make up less than 11 percent of the global population but own 82.8 percent of global wealth. 

The interesting thing about amassing wealth is that there is no end to it.  Millionaires want to become billionaires.  Rich countries want to become even richer.  Human values are lost. The earth itself is in danger of being lost. 

So while we are standing around the pool, take a look. How dirty has the water become?  How much water is left?  Look at the people around you and around the border rivers and across oceans. Are they simply our competitors? Or are they very much like we are?  How do we want to relate to them?

​Soon we will all dive back into the water.  Will we resume our frantic race with each other? 
​
We are in a moment of grace.  Now is the time to be open to the transforming power of the Spirit.
3 Comments
Eileen White
6/24/2020 05:57:17 pm

Powerful image Larry. So accurate—here’s our chance to convert to “we”.

Reply
Sister Brigid Lawlor
6/30/2020 08:46:58 am

Very challenging reflection. Maybe we need to help build another pool. Thaks.

Reply
Eugene BBQ Repair link
8/26/2022 01:22:51 am

Hii great reading your post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Lawrence E. Couch serves as the director and lobbyist for the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.


    RSS Feed

    Want more? Sign up for updates, resources, action alerts. Rise Up & Act for Justice.
    Sign Up

    Archives

    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    August 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018

    Categories

    All
    Archdiocese Of Washington
    Border
    Catholic Charities
    Catholic Social Teaching
    Congress
    COVID
    COVID-19
    Detention Center
    Family Separation
    First Flight
    Fraudulent Elections
    Fr. Melo
    George Floyd
    Hhs
    Honduras
    Human Rights
    Human Trafficking
    Juan Orlando Hernandez
    Larry Couch
    Martin Luther King
    National Advocacy Center
    Pandemic
    Poem
    Poetry
    Race
    Racism
    Rooster
    Sex Trafficking
    Sisters Of The Good Shepherd
    Social Justice
    Tornillo

NAC Quick Links

Ways to Act

Reach out to your elected officials and others on important policy decisions impacting the common good.
Act for Justice

Stay Informed

​Our email network alerts you to legislative news and directly connects you with lawmakers.
Sign Up

Advocacy Tools

Learn how to personally advocate for change and access other advocacy resources.
Access Tools

Our Issues

We advocate for laws that benefit the marginalized, especially families, women and children.  
Learn More

Contact

National Advocacy Center
of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

504 Hexton Hill Road
​Silver Spring, MD  20904

Phone 301.622.6838 | Fax 301.384.1025
E-mail us
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Website design adapted and modified by Perisphere Media.