We equate life and the worthiness of life with the state of having x amount of wealth. After the Enron thing happened, everyone was talking about how people’s lives were ruined by the affair. There is no question that it seriously sucks to lose a lot of money, but we too easily accept that someone’s life is ruined if they are poor. Their life isn’t ruined… they just have no money.

I know that can sound flip coming from a privileged white boy like me. However, it’s a revelation that I had when we actually had close to nothing earlier this year, after we returned from our trip. It takes tremendous strength of spirit and faith in the worthiness of life itself to maintain a positive attitude when you have nothing of tangible value, but Jesus seemed to revel in it. My point is that, yes, in this country, all things being equal, it’s better to have money, and lots of it. But if you don’t have lots of money, it’s not game over and in any case it’s not worth taking away a man’s freedom and family.

That\’s a very good point. I never thought about it from that angle. It\’s much like trying to stop abortion or keep homosexuals from marrying by making laws opposing such actions. These are merely symptoms, not the actual disease of our society (and species).