The Trillion Dollar Question

I have a question for you all- and I mean all of you... Please read this, or if you don’t have the time, consider the question in bold at the bottom and give an answer. Many thanks.

Sometimes injustice, greed and evil just make me really angry, when I hear of people in authority abusing their power while the poorest suffer: Banks repossessing homes, insurance companies refusing to pay out to the most desperate and needy, warmongers playing games with people’s lives, greedy and foolish men gambling with stupid sums of money, and with it the livelihoods of others, the powerful making a mockery of the poor and sucking them dry, giving us all celebrity and wealth as false gods to offer faint and pathetic succour... the list could go on for pages. I know this is how society works, and normally when I have raised the issue in the past, I’m laughed down, but I say- why? Why should injustice be the norm? It needs to change. I feel a bit like a 'Jesus-vs-moneylenders' moment. I want to storm into these comfy offices, mansions, meeting rooms and clubs and overturn desks, tear up papers and smash up their computers in a non-lethal frenzy of righteous fury, like an avenging angel striking the awesome fear of God into those who build their comfort on the pain of others. I can't do that though.
My impotence in the face of all this makes me sad. It makes me cry with frustration and deep deep sadness at our fallen state.

My question then is this: Just because greed and self-interest are the guiding principles of society, why should this be so? Why should we just accept received wisdom and say “my my, what a shame that some people have to live in abject poverty, but that’s just how it is”? Are we going to take at face value, the belief that some people should live devalued and painful lives, ignored by society, while others live in unnecessary luxury? Are we going to simply accept that 90% or so of the world’s resources should be owned by about 1% of the population? Nonsense. Absolute, unmitigated rubbish! I refuse to accept that this is how the system just is, and there is nothing to be done.

I’m sure some pretty smart people told John Newton and John Wesley that the slave trade was a sad fact of life that was a necessary evil. I’m fairly sure Nelson Mandela was told to stop being silly- apartheid was there to stay. Did St Vincent de Paul, Blessed Mother Theresa or St Nicholas just tut and say what a shame it was that some people have to live in horrifying poverty?

These people and many other nameless individuals all refused to take no as an answer. They armed themselves with righteousness, and with the help of God they conquered the darkness, and now they surely stand before their Maker, able to account without regret, for how they invested His grace in their lives. How are we, in this generation, going to answer our maker when asked to account for our lives?

My call then is simple, and not just to the religious, but to all those of you who have had enough of the status quo, who feel as bloody-minded about this as I do, let us discuss this. There is surely something that can be done about this ridiculous situation. I for one am going to begin combating much more vocally, any form of injustice when I encounter it. But as a group of people, what can we do? No system is indestructible, and no evil so impenetrable that the light of God cannot pierce to its rotten core. If enough good people stand up and are counted, surely change can be effected?

My main question, and the one to which I would like an answer if you are willing to give one, is this: “Do you really believe that our social, financial and economic systems, with all their injustices, greed and selfishness, are truly permanent and necessary, or can they be changed for the better, and can we rebuild a better society?”. This is my trillion dollar question. It’s no trick. Just please think carefully and then give your answer. Thank you.