What kind of world will we pass on?

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In two days 2023 will end.

It has been a tough year.

There are millions more poor people.

The cost of living is causing food, gas, and essentials like body soap to rise.

A friend told me that if she didn’t own her house, she and her teenage son would be homeless.

Karen and I have seen many homeless on the streets and by restaurants.

Many sleep on a cardboard box with a blanket over them and a sleeping bag if it hasn’t been stolen at a shelter.

We have seen many homeless pushing grocery carts that contain all their belongings.

Breakfast cereals are beyond the budgets of many to afford.

Health experts are sounding the alarm that there will be severe consequences if the fundamental issue of food affordability is not addressed.

People even on a middle income are choosing cheaper processed options for their diet.

Much of it is high in sodium, which leads to conditions such as high blood pressure.

Obesity has been declared in many countries to be a national emergency.

People do what they can help.

Families help families.
Neighbors help neighbors.
Friends help friends.

Donations to charities and churches are down.

Our budgets are stretched.
Food banks provide some help in a crunch when the cupboards are bare.

They were never meant to be part of our infrastructure.

“Life expectancy at birth in the United States declined nearly a year from 2020 to 2021, according to new provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). That decline – 77.0 to 76.1 years – took U.S. life expectancy at birth to its lowest level since 1996.” 1

How can we realistically hope life will get any better?

What if our lives get worse?

What will we do if it becomes harder to feed ourselves and our families?

Community resources are dwindling while need escalates.

Living conditions amongst the poorest in Britain are being referred to as being similar to that of the squalor of Victorian England.2

These problems are not easily solved.

We need to be careful of developing a mindset that life will get worse anyway, so why bother? This is a path that will lead to further disintegration of our communities.

This is the time when we need to treat the situation many find themselves in as dire.

That is not a word I lightly use, but it is the truth.

We do not have the luxury of time to let things get worse. It will be tougher to fix what is wrong.

If we work together we can reduce poverty.

My stepfather, George, would say to me, “Kevin it’s easy to be an armchair critic; it’s difficult to offer solutions.”

We can give our children a world that has better communities if we do the hard work that requires.

The choice of what world our children will inherit rests with us.

I offer this quote for you to reflect upon.

“We bequeath to you, the next generation, our knowledge but also our problems. While we still live, let us join hands, hearts and minds to work together for their solution so that your world will be better than ours and the world of your children even better.”
—Rosalyn Yalow -American medical physicist

I pray that as you enter 2024, you will be encouraged that you can do something to make this world a better place. It all begins with your outstretched hand and outsized love.

Whatever ultimately happens to our children depends upon us. If we keep that thought uppermost in our minds, it will guide our actions.

We can create a future for our children that is brighter than ours.

We can do it together.

We can.

Sources:

1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm#:~:text=Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in,its%20lowest%20level%20since%201996.
2. https://newrepublic.com/article/152809/dickensian-tragedy-britains-growing-poverty

Dr. Kevin Osborne is the Dean of Psychology and President of Student Affairs for St. James the Elder University. Dr. Osborne is a doctor of theology candidate through SJTEU. He is s therapist, writer, poet, and singer. He helps people in their inner healing journey. Dr. Osborne lives in Timmins, northern Ontario, Canada, with his wife, Karen. She is the Registrar for SJTEU. Karen has a B.A. in Clinical Christian Counseling from St. James the Elder University. Karen is a writer, editor, and missionary of the heart.