shortsighted

Here's a quote I read tonight. I initially had some thoughts about it...

The inherent vice of capitalism is the uneven division of blessings, while the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal division of misery.
- Sir Winston Churchill

The root of "uneven division of blessings" is not the vice of capitalism, but the outworkings of human nature as clearly revealed in a free market environment. Some would suggest that opportunity is unequally distributed in America. If that is to be said of our citizens, how do we reconcile the fact that every day, people cross our borders with the clothes on their backs and the pennies in their pockets, only to rise as perpetual testaments to the American dream. To be honest, I have a hard time believing that there is true poverty in america when a vast majority of our lowest income bracket carries cell phones and drives their own cars. Could it be not so much a lack of opportunity as it is a paralyzing sense of entitlement, or sheer laziness, or a harmful misappropriation of priorities, if not all of the above? I hope that I don't sound cold hearted. I do bear compassion towards the socially unfortunate, but most of my compassion is not towards their financial situation. It's towards their inability to stand freely on their own two feet. Government granting more "opportunity" won't make the difference, and likewise, neither has money the capacity heal judgments, cultivate discipline, or realign priority. The answer is not a change in government or in market structure, it's an empowered church who is healing and restoring minds and hearts that can stand on their own two feet again, if not for the first time ever. Minds and hearts that are free to grab onto and hold onto the opportunities that have been before them all along.