“The rich cannot accumulate
wealth without the co-operation of
the poor in society.” M.K. Gandhi

Two quotes in today’s newspaper struck me as speaking much about our times. One was from President Obama in South Korea warning North Korea “to scrap its plans to launch a satellite next month”. He said: “They need to understand that bad behavior will not be rewarded”. The other quote was from factory owner in Mexico about Pope Benedict XVI who is visiting. He said: “We pray for him to help us, that there is no more violence in the country.”

What these two quotes had in common, in my mind, was that they were both talking out of perspective of a hierarchical structure. The president of the largest military and leader of the ‘Free World’ was telling North Korea that their behavior was bad because he did not want them to have a missile that could launch a satellite and also a bomb. It is like him telling Iran recently that he (we) would do anything, even starting a war, to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. He was saying that mainly for the sake of Israel that has nuclear weapons and missiles, a country we give eight million dollars a day in military aide. Simply said, he or we are the ‘deciders’ of good and bad behavior for other countries.

The owner of the factory was talking from the bottom end of the hierarchical structure. He was looking for the Pope, a top of the hierarchical structure in the Catholic Church, for help in stopping the violence in his own country of Mexico. Those on top of the hierarchy look down and those on the bottom look up.

These attitudes, one from the top and one from the bottom, expressed in these quotes violates many of the key principles and values of Democracy and the Catholic faith. Democracy teaches us that all persons are equal and we need to creatively communicate and dialog with others that have different views not threaten or bully them into submission. The Catholic faith teaches all persons, in the eyes of God, have dignity and need to be respected, be they in prison or leaders, poor or rich, woman or man. We are told in the Catholic Church that the Church is the “people of God”.

An example of a non-hierarchical way of looking at life came today in a report from El Salvador, which has suffered tremendous homicides due to gang violence. The FMLN, the revolutionary party, President had engaged the Catholic Church to help mediate a peace between the two largest gangs, one which has its origins in California. A truce had been reached and hopes are that homicides will go down. The President and Catholic Church were peacemakers, not dictators of right or wrong behavior and not doing it for the gangs. For me this is the role of government and Catholic Church, not to threaten people or do something for people, but as peacemakers, mediators and servants of the people.

One can only hope, pray and work for hierarchical structures, be they in government or in Church are crushed. That will only happen when we the people wake up to see we are the Church and government is for and of the people

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