Editorial: Who is my neighbour?

On the anniversary of the low point of the global financial crisis, The Record ponders some cutting questions.
Passing the first anniversary of the global financial crisis, we are left with two mysteries: Where did all the money go? Where did all the money come from?
There are many other questions, such as, How did a world not wise enough to know the crisis was coming suddenly become wise enough to know all the answers? And then, Whatever happened to poverty? However, these and other questions all go back to the mysteries of where the money went (when the world apparently lost it) and where did it come from (when the world apparently found trillions and trillions of dollars, euros, pounds, yen etc to replace what was lost and more besides).
All of these questions and their answers may be too complex for mere editorial writers at The Record, but we have our own question:  What would have happened if the world had found even one trillion dollars a month or a year before the crisis and applied it to the relief of poverty? They could have called it an economic stimulus for the poorest economies, and by now we might be congratulating ourselves that the economic stimulus was so effective that we did not suffer the economic crisis we didn’t know was coming?
The idea of ridding the world of poverty is not new. World leaders talked about it for years leading to the end of the last millennium and agreed on a set of goals for the beginning of the new millennium. Many countries increased their contributions to the poor either through cancellation of debt or direct contributions, and there has undoubtedly been some progress in some parts of the world.
But there was nothing like the flood of finance the world unleashed to save the rich countries from a period of discomfort.
The last 12 months has been a ghastly demonstration of who and what matters in the minds and hearts of mankind. It is not the poor.
For the poor like you and me, dear reader, there was a gratuitous $900 to spend last Christmas and another bonus early this year to squander in whatever way we would. The bonuses were not actually for the benefit of the recipients; they were for the benefit of retailers and manufacturers, with the recipients merely a syphon to transfer government money to them in a respectable manner. But for the real poor – the starving mothers around the world and their infants so weak they probably could not have eaten the food we might have given them – there was nothing.
Faced with a world crisis, our governments, bankers and business leaders apparently thought of everyone except those most in need – those most in need before the crisis, those who suffer most during the crisis, and those who will still be in need after the crisis. This blind spot was not limited to governments, bankers and business leaders; how many of us gave our superfluous and unearned ‘bonuses’ directly to the poor, at home or overseas?
The point is not the economic result of all these stimuluses, good, bad or neutral. The issue is the world’s approach to love of neighbour.
If we want a world of peace and justice, we must truly seek peace and justice. They must be uppermost in our minds at all times, and particularly in times of crisis. They must be what we want, what we truly desire.
This last 12 months of ‘crisis’ have demonstrated that peace and justice are the least of our wants, the first of our wants to be discarded in the face of any threat. We – each one of us – must change our priorities so that peace and justice never lose their place of priority.
It is easy to argue that nothing is gained by allowing economies to collapse, or even to contract, and few would argue against that proposition.
But it isn’t true. Economic development does not of itself lead to justice.  Anyone who is unsure of that need only to look at the greatest economy, the USA, and consider the level of injustice that pervades American society. If the US is too far away, and our view of it too corrupted by the endless output of film and television, try a close and truthful look at Australia.
Or merely consider the massive economic output of film and television, and the parasitic coverage of them by newspapers and magazines, and ponder for a while how much of it glorifies crime, adultery, dishonesty, cruelty and the agitation of the human mind and emotions by swirling images and inane background music, and ask how much confusion, anger and injustice it contributes to in the world.
Indeed, if Australians put an end to their spending on the corrupt entertainment industries and gave the money to the poor, we would soon have enough to make a huge difference at least to our neighbours in Timor and Papua-New Guinea.
Of course, this is not going to happen and is not even going to be considered, but these examples demonstrate how deep is our love for ‘economic’ matters, and how easily forgotten is our collective desire for peace and justice.
Love of our neighbour comes even further down the totem pole of our desires when the going gets tough.
The only heart and mind each of us is responsible for is our own, but we can also influence others by example and prayer.