The conversations during World Politics about poverty and what should be done were interesting. It's hard to imagine being in a world where you would be content with a loaf of bread, let alone what we all ask for. "Rich" and "Poor" are such different statements depending on where you are. I encountered an interesting instance of this this weekend.
Ari and I had a plan yesterday: go to the Holocaust Museum, then go see I Never Saw Another Butterfly. After that, we'd watch a movie, maybe Schindler's List or something. It sounded like a good plan, but that's not how it happened. Instead we met another couple in the museum named Leslie and Ari and spent the day with them. We learned how our school and life experiences were different and similar. Towards the end of the day, we walked with them to Union Station to catch their train. As Leslie and I were waiting in line for the drinking fountain after a lot of walking, the man in front of us looked up from taking his drink.
"Are you waiting for this?" he asked. "You're rich, why don't you go in there somewhere and buy a beverage?" he turned back to the fountain muttering something about rich people.
Being a loud mouth, I responded "actually, I'm in college. I'm pretty poor." But even as I said it, I wondered how true it was. I'm sitting here in a beautiful brand new building that cost a lot of money, paying a lot of money to be here, and I can still feed myself and clothe myself and keep a roof over my head. Could this man? I don't know. I know many people in this world can't though.
Do we have an obligation to feel guilty in these kinds of situations, where our seeming wealth is pointed out for us? I do. I feel we should feel guilty to a point where we have to help people. Luxuries in life, as Fr. Augustine mentioned in his homily in mass this morning, are fleeting; we can't take them with us when we go. But we can prevent others from suffering by simply helping them, donating clothes, food, shelter, etc. to help them live a better life.
Mindy, in my opinion from your post I have gathered from it two types of guilt. One is what I call moral guilt or ethical guilt and the other is what I call emotional guilt. Emotional guilt is the feeling of being guilty. It's possible to feel guilty when we're not guilty, and it's possible to not feel guilty when we are. Your example with the man and the drinking fountain is frustrating because it is debatable if you would ever have noticed the man if he had not made the comment towards you. In my opinion he was trying to make you feel a type of guilt called moral guilt where there is a condition in which a person is culpable, worthy of blame, morally responsible for something he did. Some people feel bad in their heart about something they did that was truly wrong. You did nothing wrong by wanted to take a drink out of the drinking fountain, but from the perspective of that man he was envious of the opportunities you had not just to buy a water but the opportunity for many more choices than he had.
ReplyDeleteIn class we discussed briefly about opportunity. Even though your comment about not having enough money because you were in college is true on the surface from his perspective you are far richer and blessed with greater opportunities than I suspect he ever had the opportunity to have in his life. The ability to attend college is the greatest opportunity and one that you should never feel guilty for having the opportunity to receive.
I agree with your statement on giving back to the poor and those less fortunate. However, I want to emphasis the importance of doing it without the feeling of guilt but the desire to help and better society. If our minds are free from the burden of guilt but out of the goodness of heart it is in my opinion we can make an even greater difference.