Enough.

The opposite of poverty is not wealth.
The opposite of poverty is enough.

I read this statement on a website today and got to thinking. About my life. My belongings. My spending habits. Me. Me. Me.

Then I started to wonder how it is that I have become so self-centered. Why don't I care about my family, friends, neighbors? Why do I consistently worry about my own journey through life and not the struggle that many others face each and every day? Why have I fallen into the trap of consumerism and feel that I am entitled to buy whatever I want or need whenever I have the whim to do so? Why do I consider my money to be my own? Why did I just buy another pair of shoes that will inevitably be thrown or given away within the next year when there are countless children in the world who don't have any shoes at all? Why...

After all these thoughts tumbled around in my head, I began to question the words I use and the statements I make about poverty, money, compassion. Do I really care about those in need? Do I really want to change my lifestyle so that others can change theirs? Do I really see and love others as Christ does...pain and all? Or is it all meaningless rhetoric meant to make me look kind when I am not.

These thoughts are painful. It is like finding a mask on your own face. A mask that you wish could remain but that you must take off to truly encounter yourself and the world. This mask screams hypocrisy.

Now I am left wondering where to go from here. How can I learn to be content and joyful with what I have and who I am without wanting more?

How can I see that I have enough and others do not, genuinely care about this problem, and move forward pragmatically to affect small changes where I can?