The Rastafarians I ran into growing up used to say that the problem with Christians is that they believe. “Rasta Know!” If you believe then your mind can change with your belief. But if you know something is true, then it just is. There is no changing it. If you know you are going to be alright, then you will be. If you know you will succeed, then you will.
I like the expresion; “To worry is to hope for the worst outcome.” When we spend our energy on that which is good, the Good™ gravitates towards us. When we spend out time on that which is not good, then all that energy flows in our direction.
A friend of mine recently compared me to another friend saying that my “whole being comes from a space of abundance while her comes from a space of lack.” I know that there is enough for everyone. We have more than we could ever use or want. All we have to do is figure out how to distribute it.
I remember taking Food Policy with Professor Hopkins. I learned that in the 70’s and 80’s the USA conducted a foreign policy that used food to destabilize our opposition. If you give cheap products to a country which specializes to maximize profit, there is no way for that country to create the products for less than that artificially low price. Over time, producers of the product will fail and the country will begin to rely on imports at the cheaper price. Once they are no longer producing key products, you can raise the price. This is a great way to create inelastic demand. When dealing with staple foods, you can actually create “Griffin goods” which demand more of the disposable income as the price goes up because there are no cheaper substitutes.
The USA, of course, had a major part in creating this type of dependence. After all, it was our oil and chemical companies that first created and then pushed the Green Revolution. There is little disagreement that the Green Revolution acted to reduce agricultural biodiversity, as it relied on just a few high-yield varieties of each crop.
While the Green Revolution was supposed to create enough for the world to eat, it relied on inputs provided by external sources that sold them at a profit. Additionally, these inputs are toxic and lead to the depletion of soil.
Rather than focus on the positive (abundance), we chose to focus on the negative (high yields). We seem to ‘believe’ that capitalism can efficiently distribute resources. Simply throw science at the problem and we will find a solution. Then let the market forces go to work and the world will be better off.
I, on the other hand, know that parents will distribute resources efficiently to their family. Parents do not use money to figure out who to give food to. We are all parents and children. We need to figure out how to act as parents who care for their children. We need to interact with each other in love. We need to help where we can.