I am a rich person. It looks weird to write it out like that, and to be honest, it's weird to think it but it's true. I'm sitting in the garden right now, on the decking, watching TV on my tablet computer because I feel too hot to watch it inside. I went to a flower show last weekend to splash out on some plants to beautify this 'room' even further (they're looking good, by the way). Alex and I built this garden and the rooms that front on to it not with our own labour but with our earned capital and that of our parents. We've chosen not to have children and so we have disposable income instead.
The question I find myself contemplating is this - should I feel guilty about being wealthy? I don't deserve the money particularly - it was a combination of right place, right time and coming from a middle class background that got me where I am today, assets wise. No-one, I think, could argue that we need the luxury that we currently have. So should I be giving it away? The thought that haunts me is yes I should. If I was really as liberal and egalitarian as I claim, I would live an aesetic existence and give the surplus to Oxfam. I don't. I like to be comfortable, our lifestyle makes me genuinely happy. Do I have a right to that? Does my ability to provide another drop in the ocean mean that I shouldn't avail myself of that? I feel like it's disingenuous to call this middle class guilt - after all, we're hardly middle income.
I did a whole bunch of reading about equitable resource distribution as part of my philosophy course and I feel like I'm still nowhere knowing what I think about this. What I have is ridiculous, exhorbitant by the standards of a huge proportion of the world's population. What is there to do about that?
The question I find myself contemplating is this - should I feel guilty about being wealthy? I don't deserve the money particularly - it was a combination of right place, right time and coming from a middle class background that got me where I am today, assets wise. No-one, I think, could argue that we need the luxury that we currently have. So should I be giving it away? The thought that haunts me is yes I should. If I was really as liberal and egalitarian as I claim, I would live an aesetic existence and give the surplus to Oxfam. I don't. I like to be comfortable, our lifestyle makes me genuinely happy. Do I have a right to that? Does my ability to provide another drop in the ocean mean that I shouldn't avail myself of that? I feel like it's disingenuous to call this middle class guilt - after all, we're hardly middle income.
I did a whole bunch of reading about equitable resource distribution as part of my philosophy course and I feel like I'm still nowhere knowing what I think about this. What I have is ridiculous, exhorbitant by the standards of a huge proportion of the world's population. What is there to do about that?
no subject
Date: July 17th, 2013 01:21 am (UTC)From:You earned your money, and you pay your taxes, right? Do you give to charity? (This can be church tithing, or giving clothes to a local organization, or donating directly to other groups). If not, might be good to think about giving once a month in one way or another.
It's also good to give time as well as money. Do you have the time to volunteer in some way? Soup kitchens, church food pantries, local library, park district, anywhere that people are needed, you can be of use.
You don't have to give up everything to make a difference. Being aware, and giving what you no longer are enjoying but that which others can enjoy or benefit from? That is enough to make a difference.
If you think you have too much stuff, you can definitely downsize. Recycle what you can, donate things to charity, reuse what you can around the house. Try not to buy as much new stuff but instead to use, enjoy, and then pass on what you currently have to people who can benefit from it.
no subject
Date: July 17th, 2013 06:04 pm (UTC)From:There are various things
Date: July 16th, 2013 09:51 pm (UTC)From:Or there are impermanent forms of asceticism: AFAIK Ramadan is intended to focus the mind and remind you what hard times are like when your own life is not necessarily as hard as other people's. You probably don't want to fast per se given that you won't have a structure of other people doing the same around you, but people give stuff up for Lent and things like that.
FWIW I think that if you're well off, as you are and as we are (less so now), at the least you should be mindful and appreciative, you should give back, you should try not to be evil with it (but you might like to consider that I'd class speculation on the stock market as pretty dodgy and you'll make different choices I'm sure).
Further than that, I do think that there is a moral imperative that you should do some stuff to help change the world or your bit of it, to make it more equitable. You have lots of different kinds of privilege - white privilege, class privilege, education privilege, and money privilege. I do think you have to do something with it or yes, otherwise you damn well should feel guilty for being wealthy. It's not the being wealthy, it's being wealthy and not giving enough of a damn to actually *do* anything that would be worth getting guilty over.
But no, I don't think there's a moral imperative to give away all your surplus and live uncomfortably. You paid good money to extend your house - where did that go to? Did it go to a big company and eventually into a multinational, or to a local builder who will send that money round in this area? Where else does your money go, and what are the most ethical choices you can make that will satisfy what you were going to do anyway? Also, what are the ethical choices you can make that will perhaps make you a bit less comfortable, be less convenient for you, or otherwise stretch you to some extent, and be a step in the direction of a more ethical distribution of wealth? Even, can you organise political activity and try to get rid of this awful government?
Re: There are various things
Date: July 17th, 2013 06:10 pm (UTC)From:Funnily enough, I've been asked to stand as a city councillor next year so maybe politics is the next place to go!
you're also paying it back as you work in the public sector and volunteer
Date: July 17th, 2013 07:16 am (UTC)From:Re: you're also paying it back as you work in the public sector and volunteer
Date: July 17th, 2013 09:03 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: July 17th, 2013 07:46 am (UTC)From:Like
Is that enough? Am I morally obligated to do more? Probably. But a little is better than nothing.
Your post prompted me to flesh out some of my thoughts about ethical consumer choices and the political framework around that, which I just put up on my own LJ/DW.
no subject
Date: July 17th, 2013 09:10 pm (UTC)From: