Priorities

Good People

“We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.”

Marcus Aurelius (Roman Soldier, 121-189)

Two thousand years ago, Marcus Aurelius said: “Poverty is the mother of crime.” Imagine that! For more than two thousand years we have chosen to punish crime driven by poverty rather than put our considerable efforts into alleviating poverty itself. Just last week, the Governor of Alabama announced the building of three new prisons to alleviate overcrowding in our current system. We are busily locking up women and children on our southern border for the crime of seeking asylum from the grinding poverty in their own countries. The list goes on and on. Does that seem backward to you?

When I was eight years old, I stole a beautiful red flower called an “Indian Paintbrush” from a neighbor's garden to give to my teacher. I was in love with Mrs. Jones, my teacher, and we didn't have flowers growing in our yard—so I took it. The old woman whose garden it was watched from her window, and knew I had stolen the flower. The next time she saw me playing outside her garden gate, she invited me in and together we picked a big bouquet. I have never forgotten her kindness.

When we examine our priorities, it is clear that we have things turned around. It is easier to lock people up than it is to educate them, to be sure, but oh-so costly in the long run. It costs $20,000-$40,000 per year per inmate in state or federal prison, which doesn't take into account what we lose in human productivity. It costs about $6,000.00 per year per child for a K-12 education in the U.S. If our education system costs less than half the cost of prison, doesn't it seem strange that we do not put our money there? Alabama has some of the poorest schools in this country. We have enough money to build three new prisons, but not enough to upgrade our schools. How can that be?

We see ourselves as wanting only the best for everyone, and in our minds we are “good people.” I believe that most people want what is just and good for all. What we have to do is see that through. We have to examine our own values and do what we can to live by them. Goodness should flow as naturally from us as honey from a hive—as naturally as an old woman giving a little girl a bouquet of flowers.

                                                 In the Spirit,

                                                     Jane