THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994 TAG: 9406100081
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Betsy Mathews Wright
DATELINE: 940611 LENGTH: Medium
This column is about envy. No, not that petty kind of envy that makes me covet my neighbor's new car. . . . Everybody knows that's a no-no.
{REST} It's the kind of envy I originally called one of the real consequences of greed: ``(T)he envy of Third World eyes watching as we First Worlders wallow in our affluence.''
The idea for this column was actually hatched sometime ago. On the way home from work one afternoon, I tuned into NPR and heard author John Cavanagh talking about his new book, ``Global Dreams: Imperial Corporations and the New World Order.''
Being a financial imbecile, I usually tune out such talk, but I found this guy riveting. Cavanagh has the refreshing ability to put difficult economic concepts into words a layperson can understand. He spoke about everything from NAFTA to the U.S. economic relationship with Japan, and I actually understood what he was saying.
At one point, Cavanagh said the United States' chief export is its culture: movies, television shows and books. The danger, he said, of this export is that we are selling it to ``window shoppers'' - people around the world financially unable to buy the products or the lifestyle we market.
While, yes, people around the world crave all things American, we in the United States must be aware that the downside to giving them what they want is, in a word, envy.
They see what we've got. They want what we've got. They can't afford what we've got. They grow to envy and, eventually, hate Americans.
That gulf, Cavanagh warned, between the two-thirds of the world who are ``have nots'' and the one-third of the world who are ``haves'' will eventually rip apart the fabric of global society.
Eventually? Take a look around, buddy. The future is now . . . and we don't have to look any further than our own back yard. Nowhere is this war between the haves and the have nots more evident than in America itself.
Yes, racism and anti-Semitism have caused many evils in our society. Yes, there are huge gulfs of misunderstanding among blacks and whites, Christians and Jews.
Nevertheless, I believe that the greatest chasm in America is not among blacks and whites, Latino Americans and Asian Americans, Christians and non-Christians. I believe the greatest, widest, most devastating chasm lies between between the haves and the have nots of our society.
In his 1973 book ``Tools for Conviviality,'' Ivan Illich writes:
``In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.''
People like me - people addicted to consumption and materialism - must take their share of the blame for incarcerating the ``prisoners of envy.'' It is not enough just to say, ``Hey, if that guy envies my lifestyle, then he's a sinner.'' Remember Jesus Christ's adage from Luke 12:48: ``For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required. . . .''
Only when we all take a piece of the personal-responsibility pie will there be a change in the problem.
When enough individuals say: ``Enough! Stop! I am also responsible. I am also to blame,'' only then will things begin to change. This means we quit blaming the president and Congress for not doing something. This means we quit griping that our religious institutions aren't doing enough.
And what about all those rare folks who really aren't materialistic? Well, even if you are a generous soul, keep looking inside yourself for ways to do more.
I once read a story where Mother Teresa addressed a young missionary who had traveled from the United States to work in India.
``There is poverty,'' said Mother Teresa, ``because you and I do not share.''
When we don't share, others covet.
Who can blame them for their envy?
by CNB