True wealth
True wealth is not built on the exploitation of the labor of others, nor on seizing territory with weapons and destruction. And it is not protected by excluding others from the bounty.
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been marveling at the recognition of my absolutely stunning wealth. Our safe and practical home, a structure that provides heat and cooling, shelter from the elements, places to cook, eat, wash, and rest, space for art. Our small garden beds that produced abundant tomatoes, potatoes, peas, greens, and herbs this year. Our outdoor spaces for sitting, working, and puttering. Nearby sources of additional food, and the means to purchase what we need, when we need it. Enough to share, and set aside for the upcoming winter, and as a hedge against harder times.
At these moments, walking in the golden sun of late October and reveling in the colors of autumn, knowing my loved ones are safe and well, I have a difficult time imagining the need for billions of dollars, multiple homes, massive vehicles, private islands or jets, or any of the trappings we tend to associate with wealth in the American psyche.
True wealth is not built on the exploitation of the labor of others, nor on seizing territory with weapons and destruction. And it is not protected by excluding others from the bounty this beautiful planet can provide.
My wealth, modest as it might seem by some measures, is the result in part of the great privileges I inherited from those who came before me. My access to education, to loans, to health care, to opportunities are not universally, equitably distributed. I am obligated to work to change this. Just as I am obligated to work for peace.
How can wealth comfort us in a world where our human family suffers violent aggression, based on greed and prejudice? Where the very sources of all wealth - water, plants, animals, air, soil - are under existential threat due to our climate emergency?
Only if we put our wealth to use for the benefit of our human family and our planet, can we also truly celebrate the joy it brings.
Thank you for sharing the wealth of love, compassion, and commitment you bring to your communities, and to this work.