As part of one of my final exams, we were required to write an essay to take a Catholic Social Teaching theme and apply it to the 21st century. Although the entire essay is not included here, I think the following will give a gist of what each person can do to live in solidarity with the poor in our daily lives, whether you believe in the Catholic church or not.
We consume. A lot. We buy smart phones, GPS systems, and lots of bottled water. Last year, according to a Brita commercial, the people of the United States drank 39 billion gallons of bottled water, enough bottles to circle 190 times around the earth. Although this speaks greatly to the environmental disaster our great Earth could become, it also speaks about our characteristics as members of the flourishing human race. We purchase bottled water because it is convenient- not because it is cheap.
So what about the 884 million people who lack clean drinking water? Where do they fit in the convenience equation?
One could easily continue along this train of thought, but I wanted to use this illustration to make a point. The poor people of the world do not factor in to our daily decisions and conversations. We become consumed with our own bubbles, our family and friends, and our busy lives with smart phones, GPS systems and bottled water.
But the poor should make it into our daily conversations and decisions. We should make a conscious effort to live in solidarity with them and help them in ways which we can. The Church teaches us that showing solidarity isn’t just a vague compassion for other peoples’ misfortunes, but a determination to commit oneself to the common good. Solidarity is to work towards the good of each and every individual, because we are all responsible for one another. Our lives are not just about ourselves and our immediate circle, but about helping those not directly connected to us.
This is not a piece on how one ought to quit her job contributing to society in a constructive way and volunteer instead, but a practical guide so that each of us can focus on intertwining acts of solidarity into everyday life in the 21st century. Solidarity is not a theme to be reflected upon only while performing explicit acts of contribution to the poor, but a theme to be woven into your thoughts and actions each day.
In my own experience volunteering, these items are easy to do while on site. While serving, it is easy to be in a relationship with those around you and live their same lifestyle. Although you want to live in solidarity, part of me is also telling you not to. Remember still that poverty is hard. We should not adjust to poverty, but understand it and look at it for what it is. So, while trying to live in solidarity, one should not just look for the similarities, but the differences, too. All children are beautiful and have fun playing outside, but some neighborhoods are safer than others. Most people have love for and respect their elders, but some communities have higher average life spans than others. This feeling is uncomfortable. We want to try to see the good in the communities we work in, and have hope for the people we work with. Although we want to bring optimism, we must sit with the discomfort and continue to appreciate that poverty is difficult.
During my experiences, I have taken a lot of time getting to know other volunteers, and one I most admire had explained solidarity not as not having things, but about giving things up so that we can live in solidarity with people who don’t have them. This simplicity is really about intentionality, and making actions with a purpose towards the poor. As Christians, we must look at our things, our relationships, and our lives and recognize what is important, and take the rest out. For example, on one of my Habitat for Humanity Trips, we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day for lunch. Sure, we all could afford to stop at Subway, or to buy deli-meats at the grocery store, but we chose to live simply to live in solidarity. Although many of the poor do not have access to fresh bread and condiments like we did, it was a conscious effort to understand the monotonous mediocrity of meals in poverty, and to live without excess.
You don’t have to make each act one of solidarity every day in the 21st Century, and only survive on peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. But to live in solidarity one should keep the thoughts and goals of the poor in mind every day, and take actions to help them, as they cannot yet help themselves. Again, solidarity is by no means giving up everything you enjoy, or the luxuries you worked hard to gain, but being intentional towards giving things up for a purpose, not only being without.
Your first task, start simple: Instead of buying a bottle of water every day with lunch, fill up a reusable bottle with tap water before you need it. If you consciously change your decision to live without the water from the springs of Maine, and settle with the pipes of Pennsylvania, you are making a small act to live in solidarity with the poor.