Other than reading about or reacting to, I wonder how much serious reflection OWS has prompted? Are there corporate board rooms where discussions are now taking place about the appropriate ratio between the CEO’s salary and a secretary’s salary? Are banks rethinking their leadership role in both community and country? Not just leadership in terms of how much profit can be made, but what it means to be a responsible corporate citizen when so many other citizens are unemployed or underemployed? Are shareholders shifting their thinking to consider what is required for long term stability and not just focusing on short-term gains? I wonder, but I am not hopeful.
But there is one place that the OWS movement has prompted reflection…in me.
A couple of weeks ago I saw an article entitled “Just Who Is the 1%?” It broke down income levels into percentages. Top 1%. Top 10%. Middle 30%. Etc. While not in the top 1%, my wife and I are in the top 10%. Not by much, but there. And, today I saw a headline that read, “Half of those in the 1% don’t think they are there.” How does that happen that we don’t realize how privileged we are? So, thank you OWS because you have caused me to stop and think…and to rethink. To consider again how I view money and my responsibility for using it wisely and well? To rethink how what I want balances out with what others so desperately need? And, to ask, again, that million dollar question…how much is enough? I have no easy or quick answers, but sometimes asking the right questions turns you in the right direction.
At least once each year I take a group of high school students and adults to Nicaragua where we help with the construction of a home for a family. A 16’x16’ house with cement tile floor and metal roof. Mom, Dad and children look at their new home with wonder. The high schools students also look at the house with a sense of wonder as they realize that this house which will soon be home for a family of 4 or 6 is about the same size as their bedroom. For a moment, at least, their world turns upside down. OWS has done a similar thing for me by forcing me to think again about important questions that are far too easy to ignore.
Leave a Reply