Injustice - Part 1 of 3

by: Curtis Healy

Two people I know and love who once went to EBC are struggling to complete their dreams and perpetuate their flesh. The problem is that they can't both perpetuate their flesh and support their dreams. They conflict because of the very real and unfortunate financial necessities of our society (and most advanced societies). They have to survive and so they can't get the education they need to become what's in their blood and on their hearts. And because they need to survive, it becomes a very precarious situation of what will win out: the needs of the body to exist versus the needs of the spirit to exist with abundance and vigour.

Three other people who currently go to EBC, whom I'm very much learning to appreciate, may not even be returning next semester – one because she may not have the money. The other two because they're having difficulty with their assignments and no one will really come along side them, and of course there may also be money issues; I'm not completely sure. The fact of the matter is that situation number one is the same as situation number two. And it’s ridiculous.

This is of course chalked up to the harsh reality we live in. “This is reality,” we say, and in reality you need money to survive, to make something of ourselves and to support ourselves and our families and communities. I'm not too convinced of that. In ancient cultures (and even in our Western cultures), the scholars were appreciated and supported by the community because they enriched it with wisdom, leadership, direction, blessing, care and knowledge. Here we are forced to support ourselves, which is no bad or evil thing, but we are not valued because we enrich community; we are valued because we contribute to the economy. We're valued, but not supported, because of how we can enrich and progress consumerism. We're valued because we can inject new life into the consumption of production. A sticker went around last year that read “The more you consume the more you die.” I'm inclined to agree.

I don't see how people can look around and not become indignant about such things. How they can simply shrug this off, excuse it and accept it as what it is and not rebel against it? It used to be enough in this country to “be a hard worker” and you'd make something of yourself in whatever you did. That's not the case anymore and we submit to this as a mandatory feature of the reality we live in – we just have to deal with it. We acquiesce to this injustice that the body must exist at the expense of the dream. What good is the body if its dream must remain thoughts? It’s injustice. We see those who had to support themselves over their dreams, or had to abandon them. The things God has made them to be they attempted, but were never able to do it because of this place. We accept its injustice and simply say “c’est la vie” or “that's how the cookie crumbles”; they have to deal with it the same as we have to deal with ours. Where is Jesus in that attitude?

We might be those who have had to give up on some dreams, or those still struggling. But really, we can't accept this. It's injustice and I for one don't care that “this is just the world we live in”. This kind of world is unacceptable and needs to change. I'm not talking about being lazy. I'm well aware of the need for work. But not work to survive, work to satisfy and support one another - work in community, work that is done in a meaningful way. Not just to receive a pay check, but a harvest. Bottom line, I'm talking about education that can be done at a free pace, where you can be helped so you know what you're doing and have every opportunity. Not some system of “OK sit down, take your test. Now I take your test, mark it. Oh, you failed. Oh, you didn't do so well. Here – it’s your problem.”