A Higher Synthesis:

"Communism is beautiful in theory," I said to my dad.  At the time, I was in college, trying to find an explanation for why some of us live so well while others live with so much less.  The violence part of the theory freaked me out, but I  liked how at the end of history, poor people supposedly finally win out because there's equality forever. 

My dad disagreed.  "Communism is, in reality, quite impractical, for it never takes into consideration the fact that people are self-interested or the fact that people often act out of pure selfishness.  But, Capitalism does.  That's why it survived and thrives," he explained.

And, it's true.

Capitalism has thrived in our increasingly globalized society while in communist Cuba, time has stood eerily still.

People still drive cars from the 1950s.  Buildings are falling apart. 

Cuban Americans returning to Cuba for a visit bring literally hundreds of pounds of stuff from America for their relatives in Cuba who live on much less.

While scholars in the West point out this out as another reason why the communist experiment failed, Castro blames the United States for Cuba's economic problems, citing our refusal to trade with them as one reason why Cuba hasn't been able to flourish as communist theory predicted. 

So, who is right - us or them?  And more importantly, which system is better - capitalism or communism?  Which system better distributes wealth and power?  Which system better protects human dignity?  Does capitalism protect us against the ills of communism and vice-versa?

I know that on some level, I'm asking good questions, but the wrong ones.  Well, they're wrong because the communism vs. capitalism debate doesn't get to the heart of the issue.  Because, what I really want to know is, "How do we make a global society fundamentally just again?" 

Martin Luther King, Jr. was onto something when he said, "Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both."

 

I imagine that the kingdom of brotherhood is a place where people love Jesus radically.  I have no idea what the kingdom of brotherhood He is talking about looks like practically.  But, I know I want that.  I want the healing, wholeness, and goodness that that type of just kingdom would usher in to our broken world.

-esther

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My prayer is that as our team embarks for Cuba, a society quite different than the comforts of America, that Jesus would remind us that the answers to what will make the world good and just again lie not in human institutions, but in the truth of the gospel that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."