Friday 22 September 2006
Friday 8 September 2006
More Dustcarts or More Wheelbarrows …?
In Kinshasa, DR Congo, there are 3 automated-waste-collection trucks to serve a population of over 8 million. Like many other sub-Saharan cities, people live amongst extreme unemployment, in dense townships, amongst raw sewage on the footpaths and mounds of rubbish/trash on the streets.
These days, I’m thinking that ‘automation’ is a double-edged sword. Surely it is a social responsibility for those who can, to share in our automation and technology.
Sometimes we don’t. Computers and machines are manned by the fit and the educated, while the unable and the uneducated are unemployed. Sometimes we do, but at what cost. Our limbs grind to a halt, promoting more unhealthy lifestyles, more associated unemployment and more sluggardry than a less automated solution might present.
Is physical manual work just slavery? Is it the ‘toil’ that God charged to man when Adam first sinned? Or is there dignity and achievement found within it?
As for Christian discipleship, when the bible says that the kingdom of God is ‘like sowing seed’ or ‘like a vineyard’ or ‘like building a house’, how can I know what Jesus is really talking about if all I know is how to press buttons?
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