For the wealthy, no apologies are necessary

You may have heard one of our provincial cabinet ministers commenting on the relatively large income gap between the rich and poor in BC. A bit miffed that our province was drawing fire, he remarked that no apologies were necessary, that folk who had a problem with high earning families should head off to Cuba, where everyone is equal in their poverty.

According to the Globe and Mail, some 411 000 BC families earned more than $100 000 in 2009, while some 520 000 earned less than $30 000. Higher income earners are paying less of their income in taxes as governments, according to the cabinet minister’s comments, seek to leave more of our money in our pockets.

And that's the rub. It’s not unlike a similar scenario faced by two Biblical characters named Ananias and Sapphira: having become part of an early Christian community wherein all vowed to give all they had to one another and to God, they lied about giving their community all proceeds realized from the sale of some land. They did not long outlive their lie. 

Ananias and Sapphira were not able to let go of their personal security blanket; they could not fully trust in community or Creator. Called into a new and different reality by a prophetic leader whose life, death and refusal to stay dead inspired them to give all they had, they pulled back at the last moment, turned away from call and community and stepped into the chasm.

According to the Globe and Mail some 411 000 BC families followed the prophetic voice of their leader into a land of milk, honey and lots of tax free income. Some 520 000 have yet to realize the dream. I know people on both ends of the spectrum and lots between. As human beings go, there's not much to tell us apart. Hopes, dreams, fears, prayers, loves, likes and dislikes are universal qualities shared by all who dwell on earth.

All too, are reliant upon the rest for some measure of survival. Some are just more obviously dependent upon community resources than others. They have no other choice, no other way. Theirs is the route of prayer and hope and praising God for the small things in life.

Others benefit from the good will of our community in less obvious ways. They are beneficiaries, we are told, of government policies that aim to ensure that some command a great deal of income and are empowered to decide what to do with it. There is, says our cabinet minister, no need for anyone to apologize for that.

I agree. The Cree people who were among my teachers at school for ministry told us that their language holds no word for sorry. Who would be sorry for the way things are?

“There is only what you do,”they said, “Only what you do.”

Our leaders do not apologize for choosing who has wealth and the power to use it. Someday, perhaps, we will be asked what was done with it.

There will likely be no time, nor room for apologies, then either.

Keith Simmonds is a diaconal minister in the Communities in Faith Pastoral Charge serving Beaver Valley, Rossland, Salmo and Trail.