Or is it? Yesterday I wrote about the UFC cage match on the White House lawn, and I looked at the elitism in so much of the criticism about it. Class warfare has been part of the human existence since there was human existence, and it is all about appearances and privilege. As I have pondered this idea over the years, I have realized that the writer of 1 Timothy was so right – the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Jesus said that it would be really, really, REALLY hard for a rich person to get into heaven. Possible, but not likely. I have never believed that His antipathy was about money itself, but the way you make it and the way you use it. Maybe it is about class, but a different way of defining it. It isn’t wrong that Elon Musk is a trillionaire – what would be wrong is if he made his trillion on the backs of others, and if he wasn’t generous with some of it. After all, he didn’t do it alone. A classy person would admit that.
Consider Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter; both were highly educated, reasonably well-spoken, and very accomplished. But he wasn’t Cary Grant (my image of true outward class). Rosalynn didn’t say much, but when she did, she spoke with kindness and consideration. They were hard-working and kind; they were people of faith who lived generous lives. One pundit said that you could tell the true nature of a president by how he spent his retirement; while many of them live the lifestyle of the rich and famous, the Carter’s built houses for poor folks. What if we stopped defining class by diamonds and limos and the outward signs of wealth and, instead, defined it by the way one lives one’s life? By the way one stands up for people when insults are hurled at them? By the way one lives for others?
John McCain told a woman who said that Pres. Obama was born in Africa that she was absolutely wrong; Pres. Trump should have immediately rebuked the words of the UFC fighter who insulted Michelle Obama. The definition of class should be how the strong protect those who are abused, not by the way one hides behind privilege and wealth and ignores that abuse. The classiest people I know don’t flaunt their wealth – they share it. They don’t step over the poor the way the rich man did over Lazarus – they get them a place to stay and give them adequate healthcare. Maybe it actually is about class, but in a different way. In those times when people need an ally or a friend, do you stay classy, or do you fold like a house of cards? How we live makes a difference; that’s real class. Maybe we need to welcome a new way of being classy.
Prayer – Holy God, we are classy when we do Your desires and care for people with less than they need. Teach us to stay classy. Amen.
Today’s art is “Generosity” by Kai Jantanan.