Mom used to tell the story of a poor farmer extolling the virtues of socialism to his neighbour who was just as poor. The setting was the depression years of the 1930’s. “If everyone who has more than they need would share with those who don't have enough, what a wonderful place this world would … Continue reading My Mom’s take on socialism
poverty
Thank God for poverty
Thank God for poverty That makes and keeps us free, And lets us go our unobtrusive way, Glad of the sun and rain, Upright, serene, humane, Contented with the fortune of a day. BLISS CARMAN, 1861-1929
The solution for the Indian problem
I first wrote this article some years ago. Indian is no longer a politically correct term for Canada's indigenous population but due to the historical context I thought it best to leave it as I wrote it. Starting in 1701, the British government made treaties with the Indians living in Canada. They were open-ended arrangements, … Continue reading The solution for the Indian problem
Hillbilly connection?
I wrote my last blog post shortly after reading Hillbilly Elegy* by J.D. Vance. The book is a very personal memoir which incorporates sociological insights into the roots of poverty among the Scots-Irish people of the Appalachian region, the hillbillies. As J.D. Vance writes, the poverty of a large swath of black people in the … Continue reading Hillbilly connection?
Recipe for poverty
A home with a revolving set of parents A home where parents scream at each other and at the children A home where parents throw things at each other and at the children A home where parents have no interest in what children are learning in school, or whether they are learning anything at all … Continue reading Recipe for poverty
The Visible and Invisible Poor
I believe we in North America have a problem in the way we see the poor. We are acutely aware of the poor people in Africa and Asia and believe it is up to us to do something to relieve their poverty. We are blind to the existence of poverty in our own countries, because … Continue reading The Visible and Invisible Poor
What is a Biblical ethic of work and wealth?
There are Christians who revere voluntary poverty, seeing it as a means of escaping from the materialism of the world and of not abusing the resources of the earth. Other Christians revere work and consider the benefits that flow from it to be good stewardship and evidence of the blessing of God. Those in each … Continue reading What is a Biblical ethic of work and wealth?
One of the roots of poverty
There’s a nifty new all terrain electric quadricycle from France called the Swincar. Each wheel is independently powered, each wheel and the driver’s nacelle have independent suspension. I want one. But I don’t expect to ever have one. It costs $15,000 and there are more pressing needs for any extra money that comes in. Things … Continue reading One of the roots of poverty
Should we aspire to be poor?
When there are so many warnings and examples in the Bible of the dangers of being rich, why does it seem that many Christians think it is desirable to be rich? Luke 18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the … Continue reading Should we aspire to be poor?
Poverty + Prejudice ≠ Hopelessness
Some years ago I read an article in Ebony magazine written by a man who had grown up in one of the worst black tenement ghettos in Chicago. Drug dealing, crime and violence were the everyday reality and the police felt the area was too dangerous to send in individual officers to patrol. Like almost … Continue reading Poverty + Prejudice ≠ Hopelessness
Flatlander Faith 