Life in the Circle by Faisal Azim
Circular Living
We are bees in a hive—snug,
alive in concrete zeros
stacked in rows
(one upon the other)—buzzing
with babies and mothers and fathers,
sisters and brothers, aunties and uncles,
cousins and grandmas—all separated
by rounded concrete
walls that afford us
space to gather
in their slim, ‘nothing’,
allow us to waste
our days and nights
right where we are,
right where these
concrete cylinders reside,
giving us zilch;
suggesting slim chance
to survive, providing
zero nourishment—naught
and nothing and nil—lying like zeros,
yet
offering some small
solace of shade
from the mid-day sun,
for coolness of concrete
comfort, in this nothing leeway.
In this world without
a single sweetness,
we can lay down—rest
while sighing little “ohs”
in the solid shade,
having nada, yet
feeling blessed.
~ by Annette Gagliardi
*Ekphrastic poem inspired by Life in the Circle by Faisal Azim
This issue has been around for some time – the Poverty of Abundance, that is. My resources are from as far back as St. Luke in Biblical times – too much of anything, is apparently, too much!
“In 1990, almost 600 million people lived on less than $5 a day in resource-rich countries. Today it is estimated that poverty has increased to about 700 million people.
. . . The majority of the poor in resource-rich countries live in Africa, where 80 percent of citizens in extractive-intensive countries live on under $5 a day, and over 50 percent live on under $2 a day.” (From, Kaufmann article)
But let’s begin with a proper definition of the word abundance:
a·bun·dance| əˈbənd(ə)ns | noun 1 a very large quantity of something • the state or condition of having a copious quantity of something; plentifulness: vines and figs grew in abundance. • plentifulness of the good things of life; prosperity: the growth of industry promised wealth and abundance. • the quantity or amount of something, e.g., a chemical element or an animal or plant species, present in a particular area, volume, sample, etc.: estimates of abundance of harp seals
Further, the Thesaurus gives us a plethora of similar words that help define abundance: profusion, plentifulness, profuseness, copiousness, amplitude, affluence, lavishness, bountifulness, infinity, opulence, exuberance, luxuriance; host, plenitude, cornucopia, riot; plenty, a lot, mass, quantities, scores, millions, multitude; informal sea, ocean(s), wealth, lots, heap(s), mass(es), stack(s), pile(s), load(s), bags, mountain(s), ton(s), oodles; British informal shedload; North American informal slew, gobs, scads; Australian New Zealand informal swag; vulgar slang shitload; North American vulgar slang assload; rare nimiety.
The ANTONYM to abundance is poverty, i.e. lack of or scarcity. It is the state of being insufficient in amount. When we have an abundance, it is interesting to think of what is lacking. Why, don’t we have everything; what could be lacking?
Kaufmann’s article talks about poverty as it relates to governance. If the government is active in helping citizens and can improve dimensions of governing in six core areas (voice and accountability, political stability, effectiveness of governing, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption) then the countries will survive poverty and the common people will survive and thrive. as a matter of fact, Kaufmann cites research that associates a three-fold increase in a countries per capita income on average, when the government can be good. Good government in a resource-rich country helps raise the standard of living for all.
But I was going in a different direction — a direction more like Dr. Susan Suchocki Brown who says: “Giving more does not fill in the gaps of emotion we might feel of inadequacy, failure, or guilt. And, having more, having an abundance can still cause us to feel impoverished. . .”
When you have an abundance, you do not need to wait for what you want. The poverty of abundance is in the characteristics we don’t need to cultivate, like patience for something we want, like perseverance and determination to reach a long-standing goal
Yet, gathering and hording are incompatible with the trust we are called to place in a God who provides, and the care we are called to provide to our fellow humans.
I see children of today getting material things much earlier that previous generations. Young children (early elementary age) have ipads and cell phones, books so numerous as to not be treated carefully, too many toys to play with and so many clothes they cannot keep track of them. This and the fact that we replace these items without much thought, if they get broken or lost.
This abundance leads to a lack of taking care of one’s things and the restitution of working to replace items. Do children work to get their new jeans or tennis shoes? Do they earn the money to buy their own electronics? If not, are they losing the ability to wait for something? Are they losing the chance to learn how to work toward getting what they want?
Often people who have much, live in fear of it being taken from them. They spend their time guarding against imagined theft attempts instead of enjoying what they have. The idea that there is enough to go around is lost on those who horde.
Then there is the sense of lack, the sense that nothing really matters when we surround ourselves with things. I am doing a month-long purge with a number of friends and we are all letting go of the items in our homes that we no longer use, that no longer give us joy or are past their usefulness to us. This uncluttering means we can treasure all the more, the things we do have. It also forces us to think about what we have and what it means to us.
Go ahead and take a look around the room you are in. Are the items there important to you? The lamp, the couch, the chair may be useful, but do they hold more meaning than just utilitarian purposes? The wooden rocking chair I am looking at is an heirloom. Well, fifty years of sitting in one room or another in our home. It rocked all our babies and held several Santas and grandmas through the years. The pictures are important because they are made by or hold portraits of someone we love.
But, in the abundance of what we have inside our homes, we may feel the lack of abundance of love or charity in our hearts. If your home is too cluttered with your stuff that it does not provide the sense of solitude, or humility you might be looking for, perhaps it’s too crowed for peace or has no sense of order.
“We can have too much and not really appreciate the true value of what we have personally nor what we have to give to one another. “ (Dr. Susan Suchocki Brown)
In addition, having more can lead to health issues. In fact, having more than enough to eat (especially here in America) means we lack optimum health because we eat more than our bodies need—a poverty of health in the wealthiest nation. We don’t have exercise built-in to our daily lives like in the past. In some countries, individuals must walk up to three miles to get the water for the day. I’d say the 6-mile trip is a very healthy thing to do.
So many people are obese and suffer the ill health of having too much to eat, and too much of the wrong foods. There is a poverty of self-control and “normal” eating behaviors have been lost.
But it’s not just over-eating, it’s over-consuming on many things. The latest thing is having special moments with loved ones. It is good to spend “quality” time with your loved ones. But, the abundance of special events means that they are less special because there are so many of them. We don’t have a chance to wallow in the “drudgery of everyday life.”
It is easy enough to say don’t become victim to the I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it mentality, but that is so narrow. Can you spend a day in sacrifice by waiting for what you want? Catholics spend Fridays during Lent fasting (going without large meals and meat). This practice has been modified from previous generations who didn’t eat anything but liquids, and even previous generations who fasted by nothing at all to eat for the whole day.
“Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith . . ? Is it not the rich who oppress you. . .? come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.” (James 2:5, 6, 5:1)
Further: at what point have we forgotten how to survive without all the “everything” we have? Can you survive without your cell phone? your car? Your vacuum cleaner? What about your stove or refrigerator? Your washing machine or dryer?
I remember sweeping the living room rug clean as a child because we did not have a vacuum. Mom didn’t have a pair of scissors in the kitchen but she sure knew how to use a knife. We didn’t go to the store for everything, and we still had fun making twig and leaf dolls, doll beds from shoe boxes and sweeping roads in the dirt for the trucks to drive over. All this is flexibility and creative thinking. Do our kids have those same opportunities to make something from “nothing”? What ways are they practicing creativity or flexibility?
With abundance and ready-access to more, we lose the chance, and perhaps the ability, to get along with less, to problem solve and create something from ‘nothing’, to build resiliency and perseverance that allows us to wait for what we need. Can we do without? if so, how long?
One of the benefits of abundance – I’m talking expendable resources, now – is the ability to share our wealth with those less fortunate. It may be an abundance of other resources besides income.
“You shall open your hand to him (your poor brother), and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.” (Deut. 15:8)
If you cannot share from your abundance, you have poverty of generosity. You will not experience the feeling of helping someone, that rare satisfaction of fulfilling a need. Not the selfish fulfillment of your own need, but the more altruistic fulfillment for someone else.
I visited Haiti a few years ago and was amazed at the joy those who lived there had. They were joyous in a place with few resources, poor health and a dependency on the kindness of strangers.
I felt I had something to give: Thirty years immersed in Child Development gave me some small expertise about children under five. We stayed at and worked in an after-care convent, where the nuns cared for children from months old to three-four years old. Many of the children were starvation incarnate. They all begged for attention and I knew how to provide that. Those babies responded so to my attentions and that was a gift I could not get anywhere else. So, sharing of my abundance (knowledge of children, their toileting habits, chants, songs, feeding techniques, preschool games, etc.) encouraged growth and provided much needed caring for the many children. But, I gained as well. I’m glad to have had the opportunity.
Resources:
The poverty of abundance; Hoover, The Nation, the depression by Albert U. Romasco, 1965.
the poverty of abundance from text to Sermon on Luke 16:19-31 by Wade P. Huie, Jr.
Poverty in the midst of abundance: Governance Matters for overcoming the Resource curse by Danial Kaufmann, Thursday, September 13, 2012, Brookings Education institution. at: https://brook.gs/3nNkZHv
Poverty of Abundance, by Rev. Dr. Susan Suchocki Brown, December 4, 2016, First Church Leominster, at: https://bit.ly/3Ilqnv1
Conclusion: A Theology of Abundance by Network Advocates at: https://networkadvocates.org/21stcenturypoverty/abundance/
This for that: The poverty of Wealth, the Abundance of Suffering by Heather Burton, June 16, 2018, at: https://bit.ly/3ybOV56