Why We Need To Hit Bottom
As word came last week that our major financial institutions faced massive failures, I was writing a magazine article about a missions team working among HIV-affected families in Ethiopia. The two stories could not have stood in such stark contrast.
Interviewing a medical missionary in Ethiopia, I learned about a mother and her six children who live in a room the size of a double bed. The mother is dying of AIDS after having contracted the HIV virus from an unfaithful husband who then abandoned the family. She is shunned by society. And she is just one of thousands of women who share a similar story.
I have not visited Ethiopia. I have not met any of these mothers who are dying of AIDS, mothers who silently wonder what will become of their soon-to-be orphaned children. I have not stepped foot into their tiny dwellings made from corrugated metal and plastic tarps. I have only seen photos and spoken with those who work among them. And yet I am deeply disturbed.
I couldn’t help but contrast the devastation in Ethiopia with the current devastation here in the U.S. Our stock market is as unsteady as a drunken man on a balance beam. Major financial insitutions are falling apart. Wall Street brokers are in a frenzy, blindly reaching for anything they can find to steady themselves. And a young woman in Ethiopia with no concept of Wall Street awakens, wondering how many more meals she will share with her children.
This morning I sat in my living room, not large by most standards, but probably six to eight times larger than the single room shared by an Ethiopian family of seven, and let my eyes slowly absorb the view. This is my living room. This is just one room in my house. A room that is used only for lounging, not for cooking or sleeping. A leisure room.
Glancing around I noticed the luxuries in this one room. Television (with cable, DVD player, and a rarely used VCR). Stereo. Gas fireplace. Wall-to-wall carpeting. Two couches and two chairs. Seven pillows. One blanket. Three tables. Two lamps, an overhead light fixture, and a ceiling fan. Two windows. Three entrances. Painted walls and a painted ceiling. Art on the wall. Four electrical outlets. A phone outlet, never used because I prefer a cell phone. A laptop computer with high-speed internet. And a stack of half-read magazines and catalogs two inches thick.
As I let each detail of the room sink into my consciousness, I thought about the Ethiopian mother in “a room the size of a double bed.” Reviewing my notes from the missionary interview, I hesitated over the accuracy of that quote until I noticed the photo. Several Ethiopian women were playing hostess to an American missionary, sharing a plate of bread or crackers in a tiny shelter. Yes, I realized, it was indeed that small.
I wonder what it would take for us to understand that kind of poverty of those families in Ethiopia. They are desperate for God in every way: for their health, their food, their safety, their children’s future. They are in a position to depend on God alone that we, as Americans, can’t begin to comprehend. As strange as this may sound, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we were to embrace the falling economy rather than fight it.
The U.S. government is scrambling to make decisions about providing bail-out loans to save crashing institutions; administering quick fixes to keep the whole house of cards from overnight decimation. While I understand our “plug-up-the-dam” logic, I have to wonder if that isn’t a bit like giving an alcoholic the keys to the liquor cabinet.
I realize in this case the alcoholic controls our entire financial system, and that if the government fails to intervene, the U.S. economy will collapse, severely impacting people at every level of society. But still, I wonder if allowing the natural consequences rather than preventing them might be the more biblical response. Maybe our nation needs to hit bottom. Maybe we need to experience a depression in order to shock our systems enough to admit we have a significant idolatry problem and that we desperately need to seek treatment.
What would it do for our nation if we could live for even a few days in poverty akin to the daily experience of many around the world? Would we start to look at things a little differently? Would it be as important to own houses that are bigger than we need or can afford? Or would we begin to thank God for the cool breeze of the day, for another day of life to spend with our children, for a soft blanket, or a meal shared in love?
What we seem desperate to stop could potentially be the best thing our nation could ask for. As Christians, wouldn’t the wisest thing be to get on our knees and beg God to save us, not from financial devastation, but from our love of money? If the answer is yes, the daunting question then becomes, are we willing to suffer the consequences ourselves?
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Posted on September 29, 2008 12:00 AM
Comments
Amen, sister.
Posted by: shane cooper | September 29, 2008 2:05 AM
I think someone needs to explain to americans (myself included) that we cannot continue to live so grossly beyond our means and rely so heavily on credit to buy things we cant afford and dont need
Posted by: James | September 29, 2008 10:04 AM
The bailout monies paid could total to $1 trillion before it's done. That's 1,000,000,000,000 dollars. Just 1% of that could provide clean drinking water to all who don't have it.
I don't think our country has its priorities straight.
Posted by: Nathan Bubna | September 29, 2008 11:08 AM
As much as I "hear" ya on the need for Americans to get a shot of perspective on materialism and just how good we have it, I don't think the U.S. economy tanking is the best method; b/c unfortunately the rest of the world is too tied into our economy.
So in essence, to not help the Drunk man will end up not helping the family. There's just gotta be a better way for all parties invovled
Posted by: kendall | September 29, 2008 1:22 PM
Excellent article, Melanie!
Posted by: Dawn | September 29, 2008 5:09 PM
I do not trust the media.
I do not trust the government.
I do not trust Wall Street.
I do not even trust my own self.
I trust in Yahweh, the Creator of all.
Our national motto is about to be challenged.
After 9/11 I felt cheated because I could do nothing to rise to the challenge (including heeding Bush's advice).
Maybe in some way this new crisis, when it hits me and my family and friends, will give me a challenge to which I can rise and feel alive and complete.
Posted by: Wayne Bays | September 29, 2008 6:21 PM
I found your article refreshing. I'm glad I'm not alone as I writhe in disgust as we greedily hoard 25% of the world's resourses, with money we don't even have, while "giving the finger" to the rest of the world. We need to feel the full consequence of this collective lifestyle choice. It may affect the "family" negatively at first, but (to push the analogy further) the short term pain of detoxification that must be endured by the "family" as well as the one detoxifying is still worth the end result. If this tempers our lust for things ... it might leave a little bit more for the rest of the world in the long run. True, our rampant consumerism creates jobs for the rest of the world, but these jobs are useless when we eventually realize we can't pay for them.
Posted by: Otis Morgan | September 29, 2008 11:10 PM
I found your article a combination of biblical morality and incredible naivete.
First I want to commend you for seeing and realizing that the huge "elephant in the living room" sin in Western Xty is blatant materialism. It is ubiquitous (everywhere) and we grow up, swim in it, and do not realize it is there. The (true) statements in Proverbs about financial prospering and planning are divorced from the examples and commands in the NT to live simply and sacrificially. Elements of the church such as this website and "left leaning" (sorry, just don't know another way to say it) Christians are needful in this mess. Thank you.
On the other hand, I find the premise to be phenomenally short sighted..., I might even say silly, to "embrace" a catastrophic economic collapse, any more than God called the Israelites to "embrace" the murdering hordes of Babylonians as they raped, pillaged and caused horrific suffering (he did not call them to "embrace" it). Maybe I am hearing a gleeful chuckle where there is none at the thought of the coming plutocrat desolation. If so, I apologize.
Do not forget that the people who ALWAYS suffer disporportionately in severe economic fluctuations are not the wealthy (although they lose a few trinkets). It is the poor who go from depending on the generosity or stinginess of the rich to utter destitution, starvation, and death. No one in their right mind wishes the kind of economic desolation we have seen in Zimbabwe. Although the rich certainly have lost fortunes, the poor are starving to death and fleeing the country just to stay alive.
Surely you do not mean you hope millions of Mexicans go from living on 10 dollars a day to NOTHING so that we can punish drivers of SUVs in big houses?????? This is, in fact, what would happen if the USA collapses.
Please stop and think outside the USA for a minute before advocating something like this.
Nevertheless, I am with you in asking God to help me personally repent of putting my hope in money, and turning from indolence to sacrifice. Thank you again for that emphasis.
Posted by: eddie gilchrist | October 1, 2008 4:27 AM
I had this same thought at first, that somehow it might be good for American culture to go through a depression, and maybe we would stop putting ourselves in a different category than other countries (in terms of feeling that we "deserve" to have more money). But then I had the thought that you could say the same thing about 9/11, that it taught us that we're not invincible or something. But that doesn't mean it didn't suck.
My point is that I think God can take a really crappy situation and make awesome things come out of it. That's how he works, right? People grow in the midst of suffering. But that doesn't mean you can pretend it's not really suffering. Like Eddie wrote, poor people are going to feel the brunt of this, as usual when it comes to financial crisis. And although I too am sorely tempted, there doesn't seem to really be much cause to celebrate. (I'm just talking here, anyone who sees a hole in this argument, please comment.)
Posted by: SarahB | October 3, 2008 9:38 AM
Thank you for this. I live in Mozambique so am surrounded by the poverty you describe. Some American friends and I were just discussing this issue tonight and how a financial crisis is probably a very good thing to wake our country up.
Posted by: Jen | October 4, 2008 11:28 AM
A financial crisis in the USA seems from a certain perspective to have the upside of "waking" us from our comfort. While that is certainly a possibility remember that during our "wake up" most of the people in the poorest countries now will die. Most if not all relief efforts will disappear due to lack of funding. While one percent of our defense budget should do better things than it is doing it is the wealth of America and the generosity of its citizens who fund these relief efforts.
If we despise the blessings of our God, our wealth and ability to help, arent we in effect saying "no thanks" to our creator? As a Christian I try to live simlpy and give as much and help as often as I can. I try to encourage that in others and try to live the talk.
We are blessed to be a blessing not to feel guilty for being blessed
Posted by: jed | October 6, 2008 12:46 PM
HallelueaH! I am too young to speak about the current affairs and worldly things going on in this Planet. However, GOD created both Good and Bad to test our human kind. However, all these things which we are seeing in our day to day life is just an Illusion created by Satan as he wants to be on top of every thing. I would say people who are suffering from Poverty, Illness and many other problems should thank GOD, as he is more close to them and just testing their patience. I am sure they might not be rich in this world, I am sure they might be living in poverty, but they should thank GOD as they have a very great and bright future in the other world (After death). If we have immense faith, trust and dedication in GOD, then we should not worry or care about Markers, Shares, Stocks, Real Estate or Money, as nothing is above our Soul or GOD. Hope I did not offended any one with my feelings and if I did hope GOD will forgive me. HallelueaH!!! One with GOD.
Posted by: Dev | October 14, 2008 5:11 AM