A Little Way Of Justice and Peace Part 2

The second part of the series by Robert Waldrop:

1. "The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." Nurture blessings & hope in your own life & in the life of your community. Promote solidarity & cooperation. Don't leave the poor behind for the wolves to devour. Pray without ceasing.

2. "Where your treasure is, there will also be your heart." Spend less money in the unsustainable and unjust corporate globalized economy. Spend more money in the local just and sustainable grassroots economy. Where practical, spend your money with cooperative, worker owned enterprises and locally owned sole proprietorships. Avoid the franchises and glomart big box chain stores. When you buy from the glomart economy, you may also be financing ecological devastation, destruction of local cultures, dispossession of traditional peoples, authoritarian regimes, energy waste, corruption, violence against women and children, political repression, war, and animal cruelty. Give generously to help those in need.

3. "Faith without works is dead." Accept responsibility for your own life, but understand your interdependence with others and the importance of community. Be aware of your ecological environment and how your lifestyle impacts the community and the world you live in and other people. "What I do doesn't matter" is a lie we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better about doing wrong.

4. "Give us this day our daily bread." Consider carefully how and where you earn your money; aim for a "right livelihood". Work with an inner understanding that you are following an hon-orable vocation that supports yourself and your house-hold, be your job mopping floors or composing sym-phonies. Help the enterprise you work for or own, whether it is for profit or not, to learn and implement just and sustainable principles that help you do your jobs using less energy and producing less pollution, while being a good and honest neighbor. If your job involves building nuclear bombs or raping the environment, find less deadly and destructive ways to make a living. Consider creating a job in the grassroots local economy. This could be starting a business or forming a cooperative business. Don't be afraid to start small, we often start small or we don't start at all. Earning less money, consistent with your circumstances (the size of the family and debts), is generally a good ascetical discipline to follow. Do not despise manual labor. In fact, make sure that manual labor is part of your lifestyle.

5. "The borrower is the slave of the lender." Flee the bondage of debt. If you must borrow money for education or housing, pay it off as quickly as you can, always make extra principle payments on loans. Never finance frivolous consumption with borrowed money on credit cards. If you must borrow money, borrow from a credit union. Use a credit union for savings and checking accounts.