The Common Good: Rising of a New Dawn: How Living a More Conscious Life Can Heal a Nation One Heart, One Mind, One Thought at a Time
156
The Common Good: Rising of a New Dawn: How Living a More Conscious Life Can Heal a Nation One Heart, One Mind, One Thought at a Time
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Overview
The Common Good: Rising of a New Dawn will forever change how you see your neighbor. On this captivating spiritual journey through America, hear the stories of how ordinary people—people in the trenches devoted to the common good—are making an extraordinary difference in the lives of many.
With passion, wit, and wisdom, Juanita Farrow discusses business, politics, and religion, and paints a compelling picture of how the common good is God’s desire for America, and why it’s good for America. Juanita Farrow states, “We live in a great country, but far too often we allow our beliefs and egos to divide us in ways that become a form of paralysis that impacts the entire nation.” Explore how the people in our lives and the experiences of our journey begin to shape our decisions and our view of the world.
The Common Good speaks to people of faith and nonbelievers, and challenges everyone to look within for authentic purpose. It looks at pressing issues for Americans, but also the rising of a new dawn. Building the bridges to transcend differences will require a lot of heart. Creating a movement for the common good will be difficult, but even businesses, for instance, have found social entrepreneurship not only solves problems around the world, but is good for the bottom line. The Common Good describes how living a more conscious life can heal a nation—one heart, one mind, one thought at a time. A message of hope on how to turn fear into love, it can leave you feeling truly empowered—and inspired to make a difference.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781630476199 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Morgan James Publishing |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2018 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 156 |
| File size: | 949 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
It's Not Just the Economy
* * *
"Rediscovering Lost Values" (1954, Sermon)
Man's scientific genius has been amazing. I think we have to look much deeper than that if we are to find the real cause of man's problems and the real cause of the world's ills today. If we are to really find it I think we will have to look in the hearts and souls of men. The trouble isn't so much that we don't know enough, but it's as if we aren't good enough. The trouble isn't so much that our scientific genius lags behind, but our moral genius lags behind. The great problem facing modern man is that, that the means by which we live, have outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live. So we find ourselves caught in a messed-up world. The problem is with man himself and man's soul. We haven't learned how to be just and honest and kind and true and loving. And that is the basis of our problem. The real problem is that through our scientific genius we've made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral and spiritual genius we've failed to make of it a brotherhood.
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Economic or Moral Crisis?
It's not just the economy that has America off course. Rather, there is a very disturbing, underlying problem that we face as a nation. In 2009, we experienced the most devastating economic downfall since the Great Depression in the 1930s. We were losing nearly 800,000 jobs per month in this country. The stock market plummeted. People lost their life savings, lost their homes, and gained a sense of despair that most had never seen. We could talk about the economic crisis and how we got there, but I believe there is a more disturbing crisis at hand. We must examine a much deeper problem: the moral crisis. The economic crisis is the symptom of the underlying moral problem.
The moral crisis is like a cancer left untreated. To make sense out of this, we have to examine a few things. We are the wealthiest country in the world, yet 48 million persons in this country were without health insurance in 2012. (The number has started to decline as a result of the Affordable Healthcare Act.) We throw away nearly 40 percent of our food according to a report released by the Natural Resource Defense Council. Considering the resources to grow and produce the food, this would be worth more than $165 billion annually for food that never gets eaten. This is even more difficult to reconcile when you look at the statistics on food insecurity. According to the US Department of Agriculture report, "Household Food Security in the United States in 2013," 85.7 percent of American households were food secure throughout 2013, leaving 14.3 percent of households food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.6 percent with very low food security. Food insecurity means there is not enough food in the household for all members of the family to eat three meals a day, and food consumption is reduced because of a lack of money and other resources needed to access food. Often this means stretching the meals to make them last longer. Children were food insecure at times during the year in 9.9 percent of households with children, or 3.8 million households total. These households were unable, at times during the year, to provide adequate, nutritious meals for their children. Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average for households with incomes near or below the Federal Poverty Level, households with children headed by single women or single men, and black and Hispanic households. Food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas than in suburban areas and other outlying areas around large cities. We are the most obese nation in the industrialized world, and while we have an obesity problem, at the same time, we also have a hunger problem.
We cannot sustain economic growth in this country when there is such a large disparity of income and wealth among our citizens. How can a country be so willing to leave so many behind? To put things in context, we have to look at the Great Depression. The peak of the Great Depression took place between 1932 and 1933. In the 1920s, prior to the Great Depression, the wealthiest 1 percent owned more than a third of American assets. The average income of the American family dropped by 40 percent from 1929 to 1932. Fast-forward to the recent recession experienced in the United States, where economic inequality has continued to grow. Overall, incomes have declined even as job growth has occurred. I believe that addressing economic inequality is the key to economic growth. Although poverty rates have declined as a whole since the War on Poverty in the 1960s (in 1959, over 22 percent of Americans were living in poverty), a discouraging 15 percent of all Americans still live in poverty, according to the 2012 census data. That report shows 46.5 million people living at or below the poverty line. In 2012, 13.7 percent of people 18 to 64 were in poverty, compared with 9.1 percent of people 65 and older. But it is the 21.8 percent of children under 18, or 16.1 million, living in poverty that should have this country outraged.
Although there has been some decline, resulting from the War on Poverty declared by US President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s, the growing income inequality is concerning. Income inequality is the highest since the Depression, with the "richest 1% in the United States now owning more wealth than the bottom 90%." In addition, the income inequality between women and men in the workplace is ever-present. In 2012 there was a 77 percent female-tomale earnings ratio. Therefore, women were only paid 77 cents for every one dollar that men earned when there were no differences in the job requirements.
A growing inequality in income is not healthy for our nation and threatens the overall health of our economy. Without a living wage, it is harder and harder for families to make ends meet. When income increases for those with lower wages, the money normally goes back into the economy through the purchasing of goods and services. Only those who have lived with blinders on, totally removed from the rest of the world, would fail to understand the consequences, turmoil, and instability that could result if, as a nation, we continue to ignore such a growing disparity. When people get up every day and go to work, only to find an eviction notice on the door at day's end, or when looking for a job becomes the full-time employment opportunity, there is something very sinister about this picture.
Nevertheless, the scenario is not new. Instability has existed in numerous countries because of income disparities and feeling disenfranchised from society. Egypt is one example that comes to mind. Some would say that the upheavals that led to the 2010-2011 protests by Egyptians were inevitable, due to the high unemployment, food price inflation, and low minimum wages there. So what can we learn from the Egyptian crisis? History has shown us, both in Egypt and in other societies, what happens when the rights and dignity of a people are ignored by denying citizens the opportunity to make a living wage.
A living wage is the minimum income a person would need in order to meet his basic needs; it merely keeps up with the cost of living. Many nations have fallen because of systems that devalued segments of their societies. I know that there are some who want to blame the growing numbers of children in poverty on the increase in the number of single-parent households. Indeed, 24 percent of the 75 million children under age 18 live in a single-mother family. Seven in 10 children living with a single mother are poor or low income — compared with less than a third of children living in other types of families. Many single mothers already have two strikes against them. First, many lack a living wage. Second, just being a woman means receiving, on average, 77 cents to every dollar the male counterpart will receive in wages. For minority women, the gap is even greater. America must be grounded on the laws of equal justice, freedom of speech and religion, and respect for all her people — not just some of her people.
My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest.
— Gandhi
Poverty
Poverty is defined by Webster's Dictionary as a lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty, or destitution, is an inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly include clean and fresh water, nutrition, healthcare, education, clothing, and shelter. Today, about 1.7 billion people are estimated to live in absolute poverty around the world. Relative poverty, or economic inequality, refers to lacking a usual or socially acceptable level of resources or income as compared with others within a society or country.
Global Perspective on Poverty
From a global perspective, the United Nations states, "Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one's food, a job to earn one's living, or not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness, and exclusion of individuals, households, and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation."
The World Bank states, "Poverty is a pronounced deprivation in well-being and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one's life."
According to UNICEF, in 2008, 8.8 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthdays, while one billion children were deprived of one or two of the essentials for survival and development. This is consistent with the reports that over 20,000 children under five years old die around the world on a daily basis, mostly related to poverty and hunger.
Poverty is the worst form of violence.
— Gandhi
Poverty in America
As a consultant for the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), I have spent time in many communities in this country — well over 200 cities in nearly 40 states. Seeing the struggle of local governments and communities trying to balance the needs of the people with the decisions that have been made at the state level — and sometimes at the federal level — has been challenging at best.
Many communities across the country were suffering from the decline in manufacturing well before the 2009 recession. At the turn of the twentieth century, the country was thriving in industry, but by the 1970s and 1980s, that started to change as other countries, such as Japan and China, seized the opportunity and started out-producing the United States. As thriving industries began to fold in communities all across our country, the closures left gaps in many of the communities. I grew up in a community where everyone worked at industrial plants, and when the plants closed, the community took a hit as workers lost their livelihoods.
As we reached the depths of our 2009 economic crisis in the United States, we saw income inequality continue to increase. This, of course, compounded a problem that already existed in many communities due to the decline in industry. The most recent data on poverty in America shows that the poor have gotten poorer and the rich have gotten richer. So what are the facts? Let's look more closely at poverty in America.
Poverty in America is real, but unnecessary. Poverty in America has been created by a lack of vision and the lack of representation for all Americans. Some have said that poverty is man-made. Most of those in poverty are working-class citizens. They have jobs and contribute to society, yet they do not make a living wage. What does it mean to be poor, and why should we care? And should our concern for poverty even extend beyond the walls of this great nation?
Poverty is not new in America. In March 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson launched the War on Poverty and wrote a letter to the United States Congress. Excerpts from the letter:
We are citizens of the richest and most fortunate nation in the history of the world.
One hundred and eighty years ago, we were a small country struggling for survival on the margin of a hostile land.
Today we have established a civilization of free men, which spans an entire continent.
With the growth of our country has come opportunity for our people — opportunity to educate our children, to use our energies in productive work, to increase our leisure-opportunity for almost every American to hope that through work and talent he could create a better life for himself and his family.
The path forward has not been an easy one.
But we have never lost sight of our goal: an America in which every citizen shares all the opportunities of his society, in which every man has a chance to advance his welfare to the limit of his capacities.
We have come a long way toward this goal.
We still have a long way to go.
The distance which remains is the measure of the great unfinished work of our society. To finish that work I have called for a national war on poverty ... the young man or woman who grows up without a decent education, in a broken home, in a hostile and squalid environment, in ill health or in the face of racial injustice- that young man or woman is often trapped in a life of poverty.
The implementation of social programs, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, has helped many Americans in poverty. Although poverty has fallen for African Americans since 1964, African Americans still have some of the greatest poverty rates in the country. In 2012, 12.7 percent of whites lived in poverty, but for African Americans, that number was 27.2 percent (down from 42 percent in 1966) and for Hispanics, it was 25.6 percent (up from 22.8 percent in 1972).
However, I think most will agree that child poverty is the greatest concern. According to the American Community Survey Brief (ACS), "More than one in five children in the United States (15.75 million) lived in poverty in 2010. The 2010 ACS child poverty rate (21.6 percent) is the highest since the survey began in 2001. For children identified as Black the poverty rate was 38.2 percent (4.0 million), twice as high as the rate for White children and the highest poverty rate among the race and ethnic groups presented in this report"
On March 31, 1968, a few days before his death on April 4 of that year, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke on poverty at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. At the time, he was in the process of planning and organizing The Poor People's Campaign to end poverty by creating jobs, improving housing, and raising income for all those living in poverty. In his speech "Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution," Dr. King stated that "in addition to racial injustice, poverty and war are two 'evils' that must be addressed." The Poor People's Campaign march was scheduled for May 1968, but King was killed in Memphis, Tennessee, just one month prior to the march. One of the places Dr. King had traveled previously was Marks, Mississippi, in Quitman County, which he referenced in his speech. This was the home to The Poor People's Campaign. He called it the poorest county in the United States at the time. This area of the country is known as the Mississippi Delta, an area I have traveled to a few times. While 15.8 percent or 48.8 million Americans lived in poverty in 2013, in 2012 in Mississippi, the figure was 22.8 percent, and in some areas in the Mississippi Delta, like Leflore County, the poverty level was upwards of 45.3 percent of the population living in poverty, and for children, from birth to age 17, it was reported as high as 62.3 percent.
Where is the safety net for these communities? What have we learned in the last few decades about protecting our most vulnerable populations: the elderly, our children, the poor? Have we gotten better as a country when it comes to protecting our most vulnerable? After Hurricane Katrina, many were certain we would see change that would include a grassroots movement and better collaboration, between local, state, and federal governments and these struggling communities, to build a safety net. Although some progress has been made, we still have a ways to go.
Many of the residents affected by Katrina, especially in New Orleans, did not have the means or the transportation to evacuate the city; furthermore, the infrastructure was not in place to facilitate such an evacuation. So the systems failed miserably, and people lost their lives. Many would say, "People are where they are because of the choices they have made." I absolutely agree that many have made choices in their lives that have resulted in less than optimal situations, but shouldn't we want a society where everyone has the opportunity to propel themselves upward- not some but all? Studies have shown that, in the United States, if you are born in poverty, there is a generational element, and it is likely you will stay in poverty. Upward mobility is challenging. This makes it even more difficult to break the cycle of poverty.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Common Good"
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Copyright © 2016 Juanita S. Farrow.
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Table of Contents
Preface,
Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
Chapter 1 It's Not Just the Economy,
Chapter 2 Nothing for My Journey,
Chapter 3 Ordinary People, Extraordinary Triumph,
Chapter 4 The Millennials: A Chosen Generation,
Chapter 5 Social Entrepreneurship: The Solution,
Chapter 6 It's All about the Relationship,
Epilogue,
Bibliography,
Endnotes,
About the Author,