QCOSTARICA BLOGS – Pope Francisco, perhaps the most popular Pope we have ever had, not as Catholics but rather as a global icon who has recently been in Cuba and the U.S. for better than week has returned to the Vatican and a well deserved rest. All of the accolades, the wonderful emotions and good intentions are very likely to return to inequitable capitalism, religious wars and the human damage of xenophobia once the “feel good” emotions dissipate.
“Yes,” I watched just about every moment of the Pontiff’s visit and certainly believe in his message of love, peace and community.
No doubt, like climate change there is an urgent need to effect change, however, I worry that once the wheels of Sheppard One were up , the homeless will remain down and out, the incarcerated will still not stand a chance to go “straight” and the religious wars will continue with impunity until one side or the other is dead.
The rich will become wealthier and I pray some will share that wealth with those who cannot climb out of the economic abyss of poverty and nor will their children.
When I was teaching international students at the “U” I always had an underline message and sometimes overt message that management can and should always give a helping hand to those who have not, especially those born into poverty and have inherited that status much like a limp left leg that will be their trade mark forever.
I would see all of these heads nodding in agreement that business is an organ of society and it must support society if it ever intends to survive. After all they are the customers and the tax payers.
Not being naïve, a class of 120 might have 20 who really understood and made the necessary changes that both assisted people out of poverty and in so doing, created new clients.
It broke my heart to learn that only a small sampling of students acted on the call, and the rest went right back to when they landed in their home country to the same cast system, the same disrespect for human life and the same method of management which brought their country to its knees in the first place.
“Look.” This is not a social issue it is good economics since the only goal of business is to create clients. If people have employment and income as well a seeable future they will “buy” and buying translates to both income and taxes.
Our President Luis Guillermo Solís agrees with Pope Francisco and even says Costa Rica is acting on “most” of his wish list as addressed at the United Nations. “A Pope who speaks of disarmament, talks of about social justice and neutrality of education, is a Pope who is also thinking of the Costa Rican model. Without saying so, the Pope has pictured Costa Rica,” said the President.
Well tell that to the drug runners, the street violence, the filthy rivers over flowing with feces, refrigerators, toilets and the 10.5% unemployed, the 29% of the people who live in abject poverty, the national deficit and the national parks that are both underfunded and being raped.
Sorry don Luis, but Costa Rica is part of the problem and not the solution except perhaps in our dreams.
