A perspective on wealth and poverty

One of life's little ironies is that as the number of TV channels has increased dramatically over the years, so there seem to have become fewer and fewer TV programmes which I enjoy watching. I don't have all that much time to watch TV, but there are a few programmes which I like to catch if I can. One of those programmes is Dragon's Den. Aspiring entrepreneurs make their pitch, hoping that one of more of the Dragons will buy into their idea. A few are successful, most leave empty handed.

With a new series of the programme starting last week, the 5 Dragons who feature were interviewed in the Radio Times. Each of the Dragons are very wealthy people, so, perhaps not unnaturally, one of the questions they were asked was to do with their most expensive purchases. Peter Jones, one of the 5, admitted that the cuff links he was wearing cost £14,000, and that he had once spent £100,000 on a watch. He went on to add, "That only comes out for special occasions. The one I'm wearing today is more of an everyday watch. Cost me about seven grand." To a mere mortal like me, those kind of figures are staggering!

A day or so after reading the Radio Times article I came across an email which I received some months ago from a friend who was then living in Kenya and had been helping at a clinic in a large slum area on the outskirts of Nairobi. The following comments come from the e-mail, and certainly made me think....

Seeing such a place as this clinic has made me even more aware of the gulf between life in the UK and Africa. The people of the slum do their best to live from day to day in difficult circumstances and yet are uncomplaining. How much do we really appreciate ALL that we have and yet don’t hesitate to moan or complain when things are not as we want them to be? Take a moment to think about the person who lives in a roughly built one roomed tin shack without electricity or running water, who shares pit latrines with 100s of others and who, when they are sick, can not even raise the 10 pence it costs to see the nurse at the clinic. Next time you are tempted to grumble, THINK about these people and be THANKFUL for what you do have, PRAY and be PROACTIVE in seeing how YOU can make a difference to the world we live in.

Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn't it?