inequality

i read an interesting npr article the other day. i seem to be doing that more and more these days. 

this article got me to thinking. i also seem to be doing a lot of that recently. 

here is the article. 

to save those who do not feel like reading, it details the extreme inequality in the wealthiest county in the united states. 

in this county there is a deep divide between two different worlds: an exorbitantly wealthy greenwich and the a desperately impoverished bridgeport. the inequality described in this county is not an anomaly, it is pervasive in our country. 

it is this type of inequality that is perhaps the largest moral, spiritual, and economic issue of our time. 

the inequality in the united states is among the most extreme in the world: see our gini coefficient

the financial crisis and ensuing recession seem to only have made these matters worse. 

the article encapsulates the real problem of this inequality in a few short sentences. 

here’s the excerpt. 

“The idea that Greenwich residents should feel somehow responsible, or even concerned, about the plight of 145,000 people in Bridgeport strikes many as odd — if not absurd.

"I don't think of it at all," said Karen Schiff, a well-dressed young woman heading home from the Greenwich train station from her job in New York. "I don't think I've ever even met someone from there. Maybe I drove through, I don't know."

"Funny thing is that lady probably meets someone from Bridgeport every day," a resident from Bridgeport said. Turning toward Greenwich Avenue, with its Baccarat jewelry shop, Apple store and dozens of expensive boutiques, she said, "I used to ride in from Bridgeport with the people who work in those stores every day. As long as we go home at night, I guess, it's OK. It's like we're invisible."

what a great glimpse into a huge part of this problem.

we can have all the debates we want about the efficacy of welfare, non-profits, charity, and education reform. 

we can talk in circles about what works, what doesn’t, what makes people better off, and what continues cycles of poverty. 

but at the end of the day, this seems to sum it up. 

i am assuming that many of those reading this post are far closer to greenwich than bridgeport, and far too often we take the attitude of the karen schiff. we don't see. 

we have become blinded. 

we do all we can to make sure those who represent the unpleasantness of poverty do exactly what the article says, “go home at night.” 

this cannot be ok. there are countless ways to begin to combat inequality, but before we can start, we have to open our eyes. 

we have to see. we have to stop pretending that these realities do not exist. 

the realities are there. this is not just an issue for the hood, the backwoods, the ghetto, the slums, the swamps, the boonies, or the sticks. this reality is manifest in the wealthiest county in our country. it is all around us if we have eyes to see. 

in atlanta, helena, savannah, boston, new york, auburn, birmingham, mobile, philadelphia, chicago, nashville, knoxville, and huntsville... inequality is there. 

our gates, suburbs, and barriers might not keep us secluded from this reality forever. 

yesterday, the president echoed one of my favorite quotes by the reverend doctor king that applies directly to this issue, “our individual freedoms are inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.” also see, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." 

i firmly believe the future of our economy, morality, spirituality, and vitality rest on our response to the growing issue of income inequality. 

we may choose to combat this problem in a variety of ways, but once we have seen the reality of inequality we cannot unsee. the only question becomes how will we respond. 

“how do we respond?”

it is my hope that more and more of us can sit with that question, let it penetrate our being, and answer accordingly. 

peace. 

just can't leave.

over the break my mother grounded me from helena. 

that’s right, twenty-six years old, and i got grounded. the beneficial part of serving a grounding sentence by your parents when you are 26 is that you don’t actually have to serve it. 

mother grounded me from helena at christmas, but i went back anyway. 

i was grounded because my mother would like for me to finish school, a reasonable request. the problem is that when i go back to helena, i always want to stay. 

the children, they just pull at my heartstrings. 

oh the joy of returning to these ridiculous, restless, hilarious, awesome, attitudinal, beautiful children. 

the KIPP school i worked at last year is currently short staffed, so i have been filling in as the math teacher for the past three weeks or so. it has reminded me of all the joys and frustrations of being a teacher. 

joys: hanging out with one of my favorite students on her birthday, co-planning a punishment strategy for a poor report card with a parent, convincing another parent not to pull her child from KIPP, having mrs. sanders yell at me/dishing it back, dinners with friends/students, philosophical discussions about education reform, tutoring until 6:30 on a friday followed by frozen pizza/coors light/sleep, do-now music, the letter "r" in inexplicable places in words (ie - mursic, compruter, refurse), teaching two-step equations and slope-intercept form, reminding a classroom full of students that “they are some bothersome little suckers,” over the top speeches about the woes of talking during independent practice, and watching students succeed. 

frustrations: attitudinal children, the general stress of a school day, hearing the frustrations of teachers working hard while not feeling successful, witnessing a lack of sustainability lead to negative outcomes for kids, feeling pressured to teach in a uniform way, and watching students feel unsuccessful. 

its a crazy world in helena, arkansas, but its a world i love. 

over the semester, i often felt frustrated by constantly reading about the urgency of tackling injustice without actually “doing” much. the past few weeks have been a needed  anecdote to my restlessness. 

while i wasn’t teaching i read two books that helped shape my thoughts on future plans and future hopes... 

1.) how children succeed - paul tough - all about our societal obsession with intelligence as the key lever that will lead to positive outcomes in students’ lives. tough highlights seven character traits that may be better predictors of success than IQ (grit, curiosity, optimism, social intelligence, gratitude, zest, and self-control.) the KIPP network is attempting to inundate these character traits into its curriculum, but its a tough battle. 

haha - “tough” battle. get it?

2.) toxic charity - bob lupton - deals with the inadequacies and fallacies in charities, churches, non-profits, etc. we think we are helping - but are we actually? lupton started an organization in atlanta (focused community strategies) that i am going to try to work for this summer. 

overall, its been a good break. i’ve missed this place and these children much more than i realized. it’s going to be difficult to step away again, but i know ATL is where i need to be at the moment. also i sort of have a feeling i'll be back sometime soon (sorry cinge.) 

i’ve got some good classes lined up next semester, including an awesome sounding preaching class. one of my fellow seminarians convinced me to drop my (eventually) required historical theology for this elective. it should be good, although i’m sure my students would say the last thing i need is a class on how to do more preaching. 

“mr. rogers’ always be preaching.” 

yes i do children, and hopefully the best sermons are to come.