Ideals

Yesterday morning I was speaking with one of our (retired) priests at the coffee hour after our 8 AM service. He is a good guy who is mostly thoughtful and conservative in his philosophy. We discussed the current economic situation. He commented that we could no longer afford to be a small percentage of the world's population and a major percentage of its consumption. I think part of his comments came from his Christian beliefs.

The inevitable conclusion of his statement is to redistribute some of that consumption, or a lot of it, to those who have less. And indeed, a good deal of charity is ultimately a voluntary redistribution. Many would take that "maldistribution" and see it as a demand to redistribute involuntarily. Indeed, a good deal of the left's criticism of our situation both at the national and international levels would demand such policies. But there is, in my mind, a more compelling solution than forced redistribution which is suggested by the Parable of the Talents. Part of our role should be to increase the size of the available resources for all people - to enlarge the size of the pie not to simply recut it.