Liahona Children\u2019s Foundation<\/a>. \u00a0One of the many reasons I like it is that I regard its mission as achievable. \u00a0Too often, when we consider world poverty and related matters, the task seems so overwhelmingly huge that we\u2019re inclined to despair and do nothing. \u00a0However, if we break very large projects down into smaller bits, they become much less intimidating. \u00a0The journey of a thousand miles begins, as the saying goes, with a single step. \u00a0The Liahona Children\u2019s Foundation proposes not to end world poverty altogether, but to end hunger and malnutrition among Mormon children \u2014 a finite task that seems entirely practicable, completely feasible, as well as morally imperative.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But back to the main issue:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
On one level, it\u2019s tempting to say that every bit of our surplus, everything beyond what we ourselves need to live, ought to go to the starving and the poor until they\u2019re raised from poverty and are no longer hungry.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But then I think, \u201cWhat of other worthy causes?\u201d \u00a0What about the arts, which survive in many cases only through donations? \u00a0Do we really want to live in a world without symphony orchestras, operas, and museums? \u00a0What about the prevention of animal cruelty and the construction of women\u2019s shelters and the funding of archaeological digs? \u00a0Many magazines would fold without benefactors. \u00a0So would many colleges and universities. \u00a0So, obviously, would virtually all churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And what would happen to the developed economies if people suddenly sent all of their surplus funds to Somalia? \u00a0What if nobody bought big-screen televisions any more, or new cars, or better furniture, or new houses, or new music? \u00a0What if nobody went to concerts or watched movies? \u00a0How many would be thrown out of work? Would the developed nations actually lose their capacity<\/em> to help the poor and the hungry?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously, some sort of balance is necessary.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Exactly where it should be, though, I can\u2019t say. \u00a0It\u2019s hard enough to find that balance for myself, and I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve found it; I\u2019m certainly in no position to prescribe it for others. \u00a0But every morally serious person ought sometimes to think about this question, to examine his or her life and, if necessary, to make a course correction or to recalibrate.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 John 12:1-8 Compare Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-50 \u00a0 This story raises an issue that has occupied me for years, and for which I have no neat and clear answer. \u00a0 The world is full of poor people, and many are malnourished and even starving. \u00a0 I think that starvation and malnutrition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>