Perspective: Our Neighbors

This was a talk I gave on February 24, 2016 at the Smethport, PA United  Methodist Church Lenten Program

Lent is a time for reflection about our Christian faith, and how we are doing. In the forty days of Lent, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something, or to give of themselves for others. It is particularly appropriate that we think of others this year. But first, a little background.

For centuries Christians have sent missionaries to Asia and other continents to spread the Christian word and in so doing helped others to improve their lives. However, none of those missionaries could have imagined that in less than a century the middle class could have more than tripled in Asia while the number of Christians on that continent also tripled.

The United States is principally responsible for this achievement. Here is how it worked. WWII left the United States as the only manufacturer of consumer goods. Shortly after the war, however, America helped Germany and Japan to rebuild their manufacturing capacity, and then in late 1970’s America encouraged China to get in the manufacturing business, along with India South Korea, Bangladesh and Vietnam.  Today, the number in the middle class in China exceeds the number in the US, and there are more billionaires in China than there are in America. The Buick is high among their favorite cars.

Unfortunately, this magnificent achievement has been at the expense of the standard of living of the blue collar middle class in the United States. By the 1980’s many of the factory jobs in the US had moved off shore to Asia where labor costs were low. The trend continues as manufacturing jobs declined another 30 percent since 2000. Swaths of abandoned factories across the Country are the physical signs of this horrendous trend.  

Then in the 1990’s the digital revolution exacerbated the problem for the working class as robotic machines began to replace humans in virtually every commercial venture at an ever increasing pace.  

Today, nearly 90 million American blue collar workers are under employed or out of work entirely, and experts believe the number of  remaining jobs will be cut in half within the next two decades. The bottom line is that the uncontrolled globalization and digital revolution have hit the American blue collar worker the hardest, and the rate of change is too fast for these workers to adjust causing the current catastrophic situation.   

Now, losing one’s job is only part of the issue. The worker is often defined by the job. For example, when you meet someone your first question is: “What do you do?” The answer might be: “I’m a foreman on the Glass Block Production Line.” Now, the unemployed worker will say: “For twenty years I was a foreman on the Glass Block line, but five years ago my job was moved to China.” Or you might be told that for 20 years I was a checkout person at Wal-Mart, and be told that “yesterday they replaced me with a kiosk.” That is a fancy name for a machine. Both of these persons did not just lose their jobs. They lost their identity and dignity. Worse, they are losing their faith in the American dream.  

If you have been following the presidential election this year, you have noted that both the republican and democrat members of the blue collar middle class are, to paraphrase a line from a famous movie, “As Mad as….Well, very upset, and Not Going to Take It Anymore!” They blame the establishment Politicians of both parties and most of the Media for their plight. This is why they are willing to stand in line for hours to attend the meetings of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, and it illustrates how desperate the blue collar middle class is for someone to lead them out of their dilemma. 

The question is who is responsible for their dilemma? The answer is we are all responsible because we never raised our voices to demand that our representatives do anyting to slow the rate of globalization in order to keep jobs here. Robotization for example is especially insidious and should be especially challenged because robots buy no goods or services. How can this be good for a consumer based economy when those displaced human consumers don’t have the wherewithal to purchase goods or services, either?

It took decades to get where we are, but America is strong and we can and will recover. However, it is going to take a while. In the interim the question is, what, if anything, can we Christians do? 

Jesus gives us a clue. He told us to love your neighbor as yourself. These 90 million folk who have lost their jobs, their dignity and, in some cases, often their ability to provide food and shelter for their families, are our neighbors. We should never look down upon these neighbors who might even have to take handouts to survive. At the very least, we Christians need to provide understanding, love and our prayers for those neighbors less fortunate than we!   

But wait, here is an idea! My wife, Mary Lee suggested that this might be an opportunity for Churches to do some missionary work here at home!  

Churches have buildings, computers and members who have skills that could be used to help these neighbors. Perhaps the Church buildings could be places for these folk to meet to share their issues with other like persons and possibly get some help to develop skills needed for today’s workplace. At the least these neighbors might find the moral support they need to regain their confidence in themselves and the American dream!  In addition, this might even boost membership in Churches that are suffering. 

Something to contemplate at this Lenten season!