{"id":2360,"date":"2011-10-12T16:11:35","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T21:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/?p=2360"},"modified":"2011-10-12T16:11:35","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T21:11:35","slug":"occupied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/occupied\/","title":{"rendered":"Occupied"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I present the following thoughts with a bit of fear and trepidation.\u00a0 I want to say up front that I am not taking sides and that the reason I am posting is to provoke reflection and conversation.\u00a0 I hope a healthy sense of ambivalence (in the literal sense of the word) emerges and that the ambivalence leads to constructive conversation.<\/p>\n

I have watched with interest the recent occupy movements.\u00a0 As you might suspect, because I am engaged in anti-hunger work (which is the result of a strong empathy for those who are poor and vulnerable) and because I am not in the top 1% of wage earners I was initially sympathetic to the occupiers.\u00a0 It seemed to me to be a creative way to voice frustration about a prolonged economic crisis that has left many hungry and many more financially insecure.<\/p>\n

As I have thought more about it, I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the protests.\u00a0 Part of it may be due to my general pacifist and conflict-averse tendencies (which, admittedly, are probably in need of more critical reflection, maybe in a later post?).\u00a0 Another part may be due to the fact that I live in a pretty wealthy town (my wife works for a local church).<\/p>\n

In my head though, what concerns me most about the occupy movement is that it is focused on others\u2019 faults rather than one\u2019s own.\u00a0 While it may be true that some greedy bankers (note that just because someone works in the financial sector it does not follow that they are therefore particularly greedy) played a part in the current mess, and it may be true that the top 1% possesses more wealth than the bottom 50%, it is not entirely their fault that we find ourselves in this place.\u00a0 If you are like me, in the good years you overleveraged yourself and are now cutting back, paying down debt, and trying to save more money.\u00a0 Even in the midst of this crisis, I may not be in the top 1%, but I have assets and a lifestyle that I am working very hard to maintain.\u00a0 Maintaining that lifestyle impacts my ability to work for the common good (and I am paid to care!).\u00a0 I am just as much a part of the problem as the super wealthy.\u00a0 So long as I blame it on others, though, I do not have to be critical of my own lifestyle and choices.\u00a0 This is why the conclusion to David Brooks column yesterday<\/a> deeply resonated with me\u2014we need to occupy ourselves.\u00a0 At the end of the day, if we are to move out of this morass, if we are truly going to address widespread hunger and poverty, it is going to take a whole lot more change than just at the top.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s occupy ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

-David Creech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I present the following thoughts with a bit of fear and trepidation.\u00a0 I want to say up front that I am not taking sides and that the reason I am posting is to provoke reflection and conversation.\u00a0 I hope a healthy sense of ambivalence (in the literal sense of the word) emerges and that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOccupied - ELCA World Hunger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/occupied\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Occupied - ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I present the following thoughts with a bit of fear and trepidation.\u00a0 I want to say up front that I am not taking sides and that the reason I am posting is to provoke reflection and conversation.\u00a0 I hope a healthy sense of ambivalence (in the literal sense of the word) emerges and that the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/occupied\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-12T21:11:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/10\/businessman_holding_golden_dollar_sign_pad01007.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Creech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Creech\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/occupied\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/occupied\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Creech\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b\"},\"headline\":\"Occupied\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-12T21:11:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/occupied\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":470,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/occupied\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/52\\\/hungerrumblings\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/businessman_holding_golden_dollar_sign_pad01007.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/occupied\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/occupied\\\/\",\"name\":\"Occupied - 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