when i was a pre-teen Pirates stories were the rage. I still remember watching “The Princess Bride” for the first time. All that sailing ships into misty fog…
One Monday - it was my day off - I wandered into Pirates of the Carribean and Capt. Jack Sparrow brought it all back. Seems pirates are back! (don’t bother with the sequels - just stick to the original Jack Sparrow movie: The curse of the Black Pearl. or, find a copy of The Princes Bride and catch up on lost time…)
But there’s a new pirates story that is emerging on the west coast of Africa…
Have you asked yourself why are somalian pirates risking their lives taking hostages from ships passing the horn of africa? Well, yesterday I discovered some stats that begin to answer the question.
Try compating the mortality rate of children under the age of 5 - in Somali, my home country South Africa and for comparitive sake, the United States:
Comparative mortality of under 5’s (per 1000):
Somalia - 143
South Africa - 59
USA - 8
Next, consider the comaparative income of the average population GNI per capita (Gross National Income divided by the number of citizens in each country):
Comparative GNI per capita (2007):
Somalia - US$ 140
South Africa - US$ 5760
USA - US$ 46040
(Check the graph on the right to get the full effect of these numbers.)
stats courtesy of UNICEF (studies conducted in 2007)
Another factor is presented in this articel from thefreelibrary.com:
(*the title of this post comes from the title of a recent book by Brian McClaren.)
One of the reasons I think I enjoy reading Brian McClaren is the resonance I experience as I read. For some time I have ventured into the realm of the ancient practices and spiritual disciplines of our shared Christian tradition. I have some people calling me New Age when I teach people about Centering Prayer. Two years back, during Lent we gave out prayer beads (resembling a rosary. but with only six beads reflecting 6 spiritual values which we focused on through the 6 weeks of Lent). There was a great risk that people would reject the concept due to the prejudicial aversion to anything “Catholic”.
This latest book is such an encouragement to me to continue in this direction I have been exploring. One, for my own growth, to explore deeply in the ancient wisdom. and two, for our shared life in Christian community - to trust that we do indeed need to rediscover our lost heritage.
In the first few pages of the book, McClaren recalls a conversation with a scientist relating to why books on spirituality - esp. books on Buddhism - are so much more popular than books on Christianity. The scientist suggests that perhaps this is because Buddhism presents itself as a way of life and Christianity as a system of belief.
The challenge for us followers of Christ is to rediscover our faith as a way of life.
So much energy has been expended on trying to establish orthodox (correct) belief. But scripture is plainly clear about only one thing. A life will be measured by the fruit it bears. A life of love, generosity and compassion will get Yahweh’s attention. “Whatever you did to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine…” The fruit of the Spirit - qualities or values that will shape and be reflected in a good person’s life - are things that do not need to be debated because “there is no law against such things”.
The problem with the term Spiritual Disciplines (although I still like the word discipline) is that people have the connotation of discipline as it relates to punishment. McClaren chooses to speak about Spiritual Practices. It’s a good clarifying revision. What we need are things we can practice: generosity, kindness, faithfulness. And we will need a lot of practise to make progress and grow in these new ways of living.\
We have been afraid, and so we have tended to hold on to things very tightly. It’s going to take courage - and practise - to begin to live with generosity!
We have become (in the west) very individualistic. It’s going to take practise to rediscover the joy and benefits (for ourselves and others) of choosing to live in community.
We live in a world of fickel consumers. Faithfulness will be challenge for us who are so accustomed to more choices than we can handle.
We have been trained to ask “What’s in it for me?” It’s going to take time to learn the way of love, which asks different questions and finds it’s motivation in very different places.
I’m definitely committed to finding my way again: to finding a simple rythym of spiritual practices that help me to feel that I am following - in a tangible way in my daily life - the one who I call Teacher.
And I am gently - but insistently - going to encourage the people who I pastor to commit to some practices in their daily life that give concrete expression to the things they say they believe!
I’ve been wondering for a long time what could help us to get out of our Christmas rut and into a deeper time of reflection on the significance of the birth of Jesus. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the video below… it’s given me renewed energy to believe that words and ideas - a vision - can help us to re-frame things that have become stale and impotent…
I had the privilege of handing out presents at a Christmas party which was arranged for children from a poor area of our town who attend a pre-primary school. My church is quite involved in supporting the school and I was asked to hand out all the presents to the girls - they each received a doll.
Each child’s name was called out and the little girl would call out “Present Miss”. Then she would come forward to receive her gift. It was a humbling experience to see the gratitiude on these children’s faces. And as I stood and watched them all clinging to their new dolls, it struck me how content they were with just ONE present!
And I thought to myself - Ah, to be content with just one gift at Christmas time.
The argument is a collection of lame metaphors (about eggs needing to be broken to make an omelette) and weak anecdotes. Keep reading down the comments below the article for some good repsonses concerning the real felt effects of the capitalist system.
The essence of the argument is that no better system has yet been invented.
Two responses to that:
- it’s way past time to invent a better system (if you really do think that capitalism needs to be superceded by a better system…)
- ultimately, the reality is that no better system has yet been invented to legitimate the flow of capital (i.e. resources) from the poor into the hands of the powerful. While the powerful benefit from the system why on earth would they support any efforts to change the system.
in the words of Jack Johnson:
it’s always more fun, to share with everyone…
if you have 2, share one with your friend…
if you have one, there is something you can learn,
you can still share just by taking turns!
the problem is not the absence of a “better system” but rather the conviction that human beings need to share the earth’s resources in a manner that affirms human dignity, and the basic rights to things like life, food and shelter.
Our current world view allows for US$ 780 billion to be spent globally on Arms and the Military (in one year, 1998) while in the same year just US$ 40 would have paid for Basic education for all (US$ 6 billion), Water and sanitation for all (US$ 9 billion), Reproductive health for all women (US$ 12 billion) and Basic health and nutrition (US$ 13 billion). [Source]
Who is benefiting from this expenditure on military and arms? Who is being protected? Whose interests are at stake? And whose security is being ensured? Who is so afraid?
And why is it not possible to allocate a proportion of funds to basic human needs, like water and food?
My car was stolen recently. When I emailed my insurance company to have my replacement car insured I was advised that my premium would be higher than before, even though the value of my “new” car was lower than than the car that was stolen! I asked for an explanation and this is what I got:
The cancelled vehicle was insured for R71 200 and the premium was R438.12
The replacing vehicle will be insured for R66 700 and the premium will be R468.33
The increased premium is due to the loss ratio in view of the claims history in the account.
…is due to the loss ratio in view of the claims history in the account…
meaning??? I get to pay because my car was stolen!
Somalia - US$ 140