‘Tell The Rich Of the Midnight Sighing Of The Poor…’

globeandmail.com reports G8 finance ministers as saying ’surging commodity prices threaten to end years of robust global economic growth, stoke inflation and force millions of the world’s most vulnerable people deeper into poverty’. Forgive me but I am not so sure that the term ‘robust economic growth’ is a very apt description of the debt-fuelled bubble I saw expanding over the last decade. Sadly accurate however, is that the present crisis will force millions more into deprivation. It seems to me that a new moral attitude is required from us all (including the rich and powerful) if we are to solve this problem. Current financial speculation on the basics of life-such as fuel, food and shelter- does not seem likely to reduce commodity prices in any short order. Making money is fine but surely not at such a cost to others. In the words of Bahá’u'lláh

‘O CHILDREN OF DUST! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues’.

The Hidden Words of Bahá’u'lláh: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1985 reprint