New theory: PREVIOUS generations had a sense of entitlement

[Lindagerr]

Some food for thought, this was in my church bulletin and I found it interesting. It gave me a pause to ponder the implications.

[SIZE=2]GLOBALIZATION AS AN OLD PHENOMENON[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]People today generally understand globalization as an economic phenomenon.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]However, the Gospel saying that “man shall not live by bread alone” (Matt. 4:4)[/SIZE]
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should be interpreted and understood more broadly. The truth is, as the saying

goes, that bread for myself is a material value, bread for my neighbor is a spiritual

value and a moral obligation. We cannot live by economic development alone, but

we must seek “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4) This

means that we must pursue values and principals that transcend economic concerns.

Once we accept these, the economy becomes a servant of humanity, not its

master.

It is my firm conviction – and I believe it can easily be understood by all, independently

of religious or political persuasion - that economic development in itself and

the globalization that serves it lose their value when they cause deprivation among

the many and excessive concentration of wealth among the few. Moreover, the

evolution of globalization in this direction cannot be limitless; at some point, we

shall face a dead end in the world’s economy. Beyond a certain limit, an individual

or small group obsessed with financial gain receives a response that had been well

-known since ancient times: “You cannot take from someone who does not have.”

Solon (638-558 B.C.E.), the legislator and one of the seven ancient wise men,

once declared that Athenian society was not functioning properly because of the

excessive indebtedness of the majority of its citizens to the few. He therefore instituted

what was called


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[SIZE=2]seisachtheia, [/SIZE][SIZE=2]namely the writing off of all debts. The debate,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]then, about world debt is not new. Although Solon’s initiative seemed at first to be[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]to the disadvantage of the rich, in the end it benefited the entire Athenian community[/SIZE]
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because it allowed all of its members to act as free, creative, and self motivated

citizens rather than as each other’s slaves.

The example of Solon, and many others like this through the centuries, reveals – at

least in a general manner, since economy is a very complex phenomenon – how

economic progress is morally justifiable and successful when all the members of

the global community are able to participate. The current situation in our unequal

world poses familiar questions of economic morality but on a scale that would be

hard for Solon to imagine. Still, although we are speaking of new challenges, it is

evident that we are dealing essentially with an aggravated form of ancient problems.

The ancient Athenians excelled “not by bestowing any advantage on the rich,

but by the poor sharing equally with the rich.” By the same token, when Athens fell

into an anarchic democracy, and its rule was reduced to control by demagogues,

its former glory was eclipsed. The same has occurred, in the ancient past a well as

in more recent times, with every society, which Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) would

call “oligarchies,” where the basic presupposition of life was the possession of

wealth by the “few” (or, in Greek, the

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[SIZE=2]oligoi[/SIZE][SIZE=2]).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]from ENCOUNTERING THE MYSTERY, by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Bartholomew, pp 159-161.[/SIZE]
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Edit: sorry I had some cut and paste problems






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