In my previous piece I talked about using wisdom literature in counseling. I’d like to following that up with a bit on how the wisdom literature in scripture came to be written and some implications.
The prevailing thought of the day of the wisdom writers was a simple view; the rich were rewarded for being good, righteous people and the poor were those who were poor, a punishment for their sinful, unrighteous life. If life is going well for you this philosophy make you feel good about yourself and leads to a good deal of self-righteousness, which was prevalent at the time.
The wisdom writers saw this as a fallacy. If you read Ecclesiastes,(a.ka. Quohelth or the Preacher) you see that he saw things much differently. He was one of the well off folk but he was also a student of human nature and action. He noticed that there were lot of really decent people who were poor not because they were bad or evil, but just didn’t have good luck or good fortune. He also noticed that a lot of folk who were rotten to the core, backstabbing, money grubbing, opportunists who were had tremendous bottom lines, in the vernacular of our age. So, he and the other wisdom writers took issue with the popular philosophy of their times and said things like, “The rain falls on the just and the unjust equally.” They rejected the false piety of haves and the condemnation of the have nots.
The belief in the rich being rewarded and poor being punished for their behavior didn’t end with the writing of the wisdom writers. In this country we called it the “protestant ethic.” If you worked hard, you will get rewarded. We saw ourselves of the land of opportunity where you could raise yourself to a high economic station in life though hard work and moral turpitude. You here the same language in today’s political discussions. Most recently in the Republican attacks upon all those folk in this country who don’t pay income tax, 51% is the figure being thrown around. The idea is that the dregs upon society are not pulling their fair share and their taxes should be raised rather than picking on the poor rich millionaires and billionaires; portrayed as class warfare. [See Washington Post article 8/23/11, Wonkbook: since when do Republican want to raise taxes?]
So, who are these social deadbeats that aren’t paying their fair share? Well, a number of them just are poor, people in poverty who are ill equipped to do anything but find a place to live they can afford and put food on the table. The vast majority of these folk are like Doreen and I, the retired. Now it doesn’t strain the brain to figure out why we don’t pay much in the way of tax; we don’t work and get a bigger standard deduction. Also one should bear in mind that we are on fixed incomes so we take a hit each year we’re retired despite any increase is social security payments if any. Now this is not new information. Now, I am not against upping the age for retirement, we’re living longer and healthier. I’m also not again increasing what we pay into social security to keep up with the times.
So here we are now looked at as the deadbeats of society whereas all those ultra rich folk who also don’t pay taxes are seen as the driving force of society. Now I am not aware that I have become any less or any more good or evil, moral or immoral since retiring but proportionately my income is reducing because of inflation and perhaps added taxes.
But, if you are not a wisdom thinker you would conclude that old folk are the evil deadbeats of society that need to be punished and that God doesn’t like us as much as the ultra rich folk in society.
Perhaps it is just my selfish evil self speaking but I’m not buying it. And, I hope you don’t either. In my reading of scripture God and her earthly emissaries were consistently advocates for the oppressed and those in need. Scripture does no say there is a blessing in being poor but that all of us should be the recipients of the abundant life, including material abundance, and those who have much are responsible for the welfare of those who don’t.
Consider what the wisdom writers would comment on today’s world economics.
No comments:
Post a Comment