Do’s and Don’ts In Times of Change. Part 3
Do’s and Don’ts In Times of Change. Part 3
In Times Of Social Change, The Poor Are Vulnerable In Ways The Prosperous Are Not.
Our washing machine gave up the ghost last Monday. Joan asked me to look at it, so I did and deduced that paying to fix all the things wrong with our 25-year-old washer and dryer would be more expensive than a new set, so I phoned Shuee’s Appliance Store in Greencastle and this past Thursday they delivered a new washer and dryer to our home. With the kids grown and gone, and our laundry loads reduced, we anticipate this being the last washer and dryer we will ever buy. Joan has not seen the new washer and dryer yet. She’s in Texas babysitting our grandson, Miles. I’m picking her up at the airport tonight at 11:30 because Joan likes to save money by picking the most inconvenient flights operated by obscure airlines on the verge of bankruptcy. Airlines that allow passengers to bring aboard their livestock, whose pilots double as mechanics and ticket takers.
Having a new appliance delivered might be one of the sweeter moments in a homeowner’s life. I wish Joan had been there to share that moment with me. Nothing says, “I’ve arrived!” more than paying cash for a new appliance. When we were first married, we had to buy our appliances on time. We bought everything on payment plans—appliances, cars, and even our two children, whose delivery bills we paid off just as they were moving out. I wanted a third child, but Joan said not while we still owed on the two kids we had.
When the Apostle Paul was writing to the church in Philippi, he famously said, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content. I have been without and I have been well off.” Here at Fairfield, you can count on learning the very latest in Biblical scholarship, so I should point out that scholars recently discovered a new addition to that letter, where Paul said, “I have been without and I have been well off, and well off is easier.” Which is certainly true, access to sufficient resources does make life easier.
We’ve been talking about do’s and don’ts in times of change. So far, we’ve said that during times of significant societal change we should heed the angel on one shoulder and not the devil on the other. Last week, we thought about the power of questions, how questions open doors, while answers often close them. We know that one of the greatest drivers of social change is economic disparity, when wealth is concentrated in the hands of a relative few, leaving the many to go without. Today, I want to suggest that in times of social change the poor are vulnerable in ways the prosperous are not. Affluence, even modest affluence, protects us from the unpredictable difficulties that arise in every life.
For some folks, replacing an appliance is a matter of making a phone call. For the less fortunate, it is a source of great anxiety, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back, which means the difference between paying for medicine or not, of going hungry or not, of seeing a doctor or not, of clothing your children or not.
This is why during times of significant social change, when the winds of change have swept so many asunder, we must be acutely aware of how others might be left behind, mindful that what are minor inconveniences for some of us might be catastrophic for others.
When I was fresh out of high school, I bought my first car, a used Volkswagen Beetle that came with a 30-day warranty. On the 31st day, the engine blew. It was towed to a Volkswagen repair shop, where I was told it would cost $700 to repair. I didn’t have $700; my parents either weren’t inclined to loan it to me, or were unable to, they didn’t say, but for a month I rode my bicycle from Danville to Plainfield to work every day, until I earned the money to fix it. What I remember most is the hopelessness I felt. Affluence protects us from difficulty, poverty exposes us to it.
A friend of mine has the best definition of government I’ve ever heard. “Government,” he said, “is those who can helping those who can’t.” It is too often the case that in times of significant change, governments absolve themselves from their duty to care, politicians pit one group against another, the rich against the poor, the white against the Black, the native-born against the immigrant, the Jew against the Palestinian, the capitalist against the socialist. We are warned about the scarcity of resources, urged to look out for our own kind, to pull back the helping hand, to turn down, to turn from, and finally to turn away.
Friends, reject with all your heart the mean impulses of those people who’ve never stooped to lift another’s burden, reject with all your heart the anger of those people so blinded by privilege they cannot see or sense the hopelessness of the poor. Isn’t it ironic that even as affluence softens us, it simultaneously hardens us? I know a man who inherited a bunch of money, so he travels a lot and is always bragging about how travel has broadened his life, and that can certainly happen, but in his case, just the opposite has happened. Affluence has shrunk his life, has narrowed his concerns, has limited his compassion, has built barriers around his heart.
In times of change, look out for the weak. As Quakers, the first thing we do when we’ve arrived is reach out to others to bring them along, to help them arrive alongside us.
Embrace, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, our sacred and joyful duty to enfold within our lives those battered by the hard winds of life. Always pick your heroes carefully, but especially so in times of great change—pick those like the good Samaritan who stopped to help a beaten, broken man when no one else would; pick those like Joseph of Arimathea, who learning of Jesus’s death took charge of his body and laid him to rest in his own tomb; pick those like Ruth, not content to offer only her thoughts and prayers, went to a grieving Naomi and stayed by her side. Pick your heroes carefully.
Pick your heroes carefully. In 1933, alarmed by the rise of anti-Semitism, after his summer apartment and Berlin apartment were raided by the German government, Albert Einstein fled Germany and came to America to teach at Princeton University. He proved to be a popular professor, so well-liked that in 1938, when the students at Princeton were asked to rank the greatest living person, Einstein ranked second. First place went to Adolph Hitler. Pick your heroes carefully. When you’ve arrived, bring others with you. Use your power to bless, not curse; to help, not hinder; to bring along and never, ever hold back.
Philip Gulley is the author of Unlearning God: How Unbelieveing Helped Me Believe and the popular Harmony series.
Discover my books, stories, and more by visiting Books by Philip Gulley
JOIN PHILIP FOR SUNDAY WORSHIP
You're invited to join Philip and Fairfield Friends Meeting online for our worship services (Sundays 10:30-11:30 a.m. EDT) via Zoom.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83152822906?pwd=UDkzR3NPNlB5N29QY0svelRkNkUwdz09
Meeting ID: 831 5282 2906
Passcode: Quaker
Philip is currently scheduling 2024-2025 live events. Don't see an event in your area? Invite Philip to speak to your church, group or organization by contacting him at speechinfo@philipgulley.com
Philip is additionally offering his speaking services for your virtual events. If you are holding church services, conferences and meetings online through video conferencing software, such as Zoom, and would like to invite Philip to speak, please reach us at speechinfo@philipgulley.com for details. Since travel is not involved, Philip's speaking fee will be considerably reduced.
The concepts and truths in this writing need to be internalized by us all. Beautiful! Thank you!!
I am so grateful that my parents were not wealthy in monetary terms. I did not know until later in life that my family didn't have money. There was always food and a roof over our heads. My parents took in people without a home. They were the first to arrive when someone was dealing with a difficult situation. My mother was a room mother from my first grade until 8th grade, as well as my older brother and sister. I began my marriage, fresh out of high school, with no money. We lived on hand-me-downs until we saved enough money to purchase our own. My upbringing assisted me in being grateful for each day and grateful for my life.