Equity Crisis: The gap between rich and poor is growing wider and wider, and doing so faster and faster. The good news of Jesus calls disciples to defect from a self-centered agenda of never having enough, and instead invites us to invest our energy for the benefit of the poor, the excluded, the disadvantaged, the “last, the least, and the lost.” We need to discover and follow practices that bring equity to all God’s children everywhere.

1. Run for Public Office: Politics is not the only or most important way of bringing about societal transformation, but it is an important way. If you believe you can be an agent of transformation, prepare yourself for this important calling. If you know someone who you believe would be an ethical office-holder, encourage them to run.

2. Ask politicians the right questions: Remember that most political systems are already captive to the suicide machine, so they won’t generate the needed questions. In fact, they’ll often generate “red-herring” questions that distract you from the questions that really need to be asked.

3. Build non-utilitarian relationships with people of other races, religions, political parties, etc. By knowing people who are different from yourself, you can expand your circle of concern for the common good.

4. Learn your social history. Just as you have an environmental address, you have a location in social history. Learn about colonization and its effects on the Indigenous Peoples of your nation and region. Learn about slavery in your national and regional history. Seek to understand the struggle for equity in your nation and region through the centuries, and in the present.

5. Recommend Books and Other Resources: Whenever you find resources that promote a concern for equity, promote them.

6. Change your political language. Since the suicide machine is often strengthened through paralyzing polarizations, find ways to transcend polarized dialogue and ask people what they mean by terms like “liberal” or “conservative,” “left” or “right.” And try to avoid these terms altogether when possible.

7. Challenge your party: Instead of comparing your political party’s strengths to other parties’ weaknesses, compare your party’s weaknesses to Jesus’ message of the kingdom. Challenge your party to move in the direction of holistic justice.

8. Join constructive social movements. Find movements that seek to dismantle injustice and transform the suicide machine into an equitable global community.

9. Demonstrate, organize, and participate in civil disobedience. Where injustice is tolerated, discover the power of nonviolent action.

10. Always include surprising people in your parties – invite a poor person, a homeless person, a person from another religion or culture, etc., following example of Jesus.

11. Let someone off the hook. Show mercy to them. Give them a break, and tell them why you’re doing so.

12. Overpay a laborer or seller if you believe they have undercharged you. Show a generous kind of equity that surpasses mere “fairness.” Get more pleasure out of being generous than of getting bargains.

13. Join or affiliate with a New Monastic Community, a Catholic Worker Community, or another group that lives a radical witness to the equity God dreams of and desires.