This is a re-post of a former essay. Let's just say I liked it when I wrote it the first time, and I still do. It forced me to articulate new thoughts, which is exactly why I love to write.  So, here it goes to the top of the rotation. 

If you follow ConversantLife somewhat regularly, you’ll notice a trend lately toward anti-consumerism (including some of my own posts). It seems the right thing to be—a lover of God and humanity more than a lover of things, a Christ follower who chooses abstracts like love and peace over crass commercial objects. I’ve been feeling the vibe myself. Christians, you know, can be very anti-establishment when it suits us.

All the talk of philanthropy and anti-consumerism has gotten me thinking. I’m sure lots of other people have thought about these things longer than I have. I’ll bet I could find a hundred books debating the virtues and vices of capitalism. I am not a student of economics, so pardon any embarrassing gaps in my understanding, but here’s a simple layman’s exploration.

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Poverty is a daily reality for billions of people on the planet. The numbers are so staggering that we can simply become numb. Approximately 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day. The World Bank estimates that 1.4 billion people are living in extreme poverty. The result of this is real.

Consider the following facts:

• Over 140 million children in developing countries are underweight and over 2 billion are undernourished.

• Every year more than 10 million children die of hunger and preventable diseases - that's over 30,000 per day and one every 3 seconds.

• 800 million people go to bed hungry every day.

• Every year nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday.

• 600 million children live in extreme poverty.

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