Our pathetic world
Posted on June 18, 2011
Filed Under fast, relief & aid, volunteer | 1 Comment
I saw this ad on facebook when I opened it up this morning. Though I know they are talking about other crisis, the timing was so ill placed… I know that right now people are taking their windfall here in Japan. Like the produce wholesaler who we approached to provide fresh vegetables for the survivors in shelters. The price we were quoted was higher than the vegetables in the supermarket across the street…
The whole thing really brought home to me the current state of our world and how we have been sucked into accepting the most vile things as some how appropriate… It is considered acceptable and even admirable to profit at the expense of the weak….
It also brought back a lot of memories about my youth and how my own values have changed over time.
When I first went to college, I was hell bent on becoming an attorney, working in the banking sector, making buckets of money and retiring on some little island in the caribbean. I started working with my father who had opened a shop brokering equity loans and trading paper. I was amazed at the amount of money generated in commissions in even the smallest of transactions. So I imagined my MBA and a stint in a major brokerage house would bring my dreams to reality.
I also had the opportunity to work daily with attorneys, bankers, and drug dealers, all those movers and shakers that make our economy what it is. The paper( trust deeds, land sale contracts, wraps etc.) that we originated most often later brokered were most often high risk with high equity and the default rates were so high as to almost be a given. Of course this kind of money is exciting, especially to a college freshman when most of my friends were making burgers or washing dishes…
One day, one of the attorneys turned to me with his eyes gleaming and showing a twisted smile and said , " how delicious to profit from the pain"… I thank him to this day because the gnawing feeling that I felt down deep started me down a long road of re-evaluating just who I was and who I wanted to be in this kaleidoscope that we live in. I don't work with those people any more, I don't take their money to run our charitable events either.
Right now there is a fire sale in Tohoku. I wont be buying, I will be doing my best to feed as many of the people that are on the ropes in Tohoku as possible, not finishing them off. How about you join me? Send me a mail and let me know you are fasting with me for a day, drop a bag of rice or can goods off at our Kyoto center, or just hit the button to the right and be a part of something good.
God Speed Tohoku
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We just sent you 10,000 yen.
I hope you don't have to go the whole 40 days.
Thank you for the glory you give to our Father. May he strengthen you.