And you give yourself away...

I find it interesting that our generation, the group raised with "greed is good" culture, has found a way to create consumerism with a social conscience. Our $5.00 latte has to be fair trade certified, our $250 ipod is part of the fight agains AIDS, our pair of shoes buys a pair for a kid in South America, and part of that $50 bag goes to prevent hunger. Win-win right? We get new stuff and we also give to the poor. But every time I see these campaigns I can't help but think of the impact we could make if we could forgo the purchase and just gave the whole enchilada to the poor in the first place.

Most of my friends fall into one of two groups: those that keep pace with peers at buying to their hearts content and those who are poor. Those that spend more time at that mall still keep in mind those brands or campaigns that have tied themselved to charitable organizations and I don't completely think that is terrible...if you must shop, shop philanthropicallly. Like I said, our demographic has found a way to keep spending and feel like we are making a difference.

And then there is us poor kids who silently judge those who buy. I tend to be in that camp. And if I were to be honest with myself, I would have to say that what seems like simplicity can feel like self-righteousness inside. I don't mean to. I don't want to judge. But so much of my internal monologue is centered around the idea of "Do I REALLY need this" that I assume others have the same mental game of weights and measures when they open up their wallet. Only it SEEMS like my friends open up theirs at a faster pace. I've been getting my idea of normal from looking immediately to my right and left and spending too much time figuring out how I campare. So it was kind of like a breath of fresh air when I read Shane Claiborne's response to Relevent magazine's question of "How Do We Escape the Excess of Culture?" :

"I think the most important question is not what I should give away, because the Scriptures say you can sell everything you have and give it to the poor, but if you don't have love it's nothing. So the deepest question around simplicity is about love, and redistribution of resources is only meaningful inasmuch as it's rooted in love. When we really figure out how to live in the personalism and love of Christ with our neighbor, then that defines what's enough so that we're not just driven by an ideology, but by a love relationship to our neighbor."

It seems that my focus has been maybe a little too much on the giving away of the stuff and not really on having love for my neighbors. It's not really about what percentage of my new bag goes to shift a little of my nation's wealth to a poorer nation. It's why I'm even concerned about men and women on the other side of the ocean in the first place. Maybe if I focus a little more on the Spirit inside that calls out with compassion and love for the hurting (down the street or across the globe) then my clanging cymbal will be sweet music...
and I won't judge people with red ipods.

I Cor. 13: 3" If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."