As I drove home from Brooksby Village this afternoon, I listened to an episode of the "On Being" podcast with Krista Tippett. It was a conversation at Georgetown University with the author Jason Reynolds and a Georgetown student named Kessley Janvier. The episode was ostensibly about "being young in America", but it touched on all manner of things: racism, activism, community, social media, caring for oneself, hope...
At one point Krista asked the student, Kessley, if she felt that young people today were more "sensitive" than previous generations, if they felt the plight of the earth and society more acutely. "How would you talk about this sensitization...?"
Kessley replied:
My friends and I were actually just having this conversation last week. We were like: Are we all depressed? Are we all anxious? Do we all have ADHD? Or are we not supposed to live under capitalism?
And the audience broke into laughter.
Kessley pushed back:
You're laughing, but it's not funny. It's not funny. It is not funny.
I found this exchange profound. And chilling. And true. Because we don't like to talk about it -- but isn't the chasing after wealth by corporations and individuals alike the root of (almost) all of our problems? Isn't the greed of our elected officials fueling the lies and illegality we are seeing? Isn't the imperative for profits what's polluting our earth, making health care a mess, building private prisons, perpetuating poverty, and keeping us consuming what we don't need, even when it makes us sick?
Jesus said to give our money to the poor. To sell all our possessions. To care for the strangers and the hungry. To store up treasure in heaven, not on earth. And the early Jesus-followers described in Acts held all things in common, giving to those who had need.
We are seeing capitalism run amok right now. But Jesus calls us to a different way. A way that prioritizes love over wealth, mercy over winning, community over individualism.
Kessley concluded by saying:
The world does not have to be the way it is.
I think Jesus said the exact same thing. The kingdom of God is at hand!
