A Fair Share

The importance of sharing is one of the basic lessons we teach to children. I've never known a parent or teacher who told their child "You brought the candy - you should keep it all for yourself" or "Billy is lazy - don't give him any."
Why do we find this lesson so hard to apply to ourselves?
Wesley proposes that a Christian should act as a steward, viewing all available resources as belonging to God. It's hard to argue with his use of Scripture and reason in this regard, and his experience shows that it can more or less be done; he certainly believed that he expended money and time this way.
He further believed that, so long as there are hungry people in reach, God would desire us to spend only what was necessary on ourselves, and invest the rest in our brothers and sisters who are in need. This is what he practiced: he determined that he needed approximately £28 per year, and gave away the remainder, almost £1,400 annually at life's end.
Tradition stands opposed; a lifestyle of voluntary poverty is seen as one virtuous path, but not the only one. Abstaining from pleasures is not a virtue in itself, but only insofar as it enables other virtues, such as worshiping God or caring for others.
I find Wesley's arguments compelling. But in a global world, where almost everyone is in reach, it is overwhelming. Thousands of people, mostly children, die of malnutrition every day. Should my life goal be to save as many dying children as possible? If so, I should have stayed single, taken an industry job in computer science, and done nothing but work, exercise, eat, and sleep. I could have earned millions, given almost all of it away, and saved over a thousand lives by now.* My choice to marry, have children, and become a pastor has meant that people have died early deaths - but I fully believe God wanted me to marry, that Gregory and Becca are gifts to the world, and that I was called to campus ministry.
And so I'm left with a dilemma. How much is "saving a life" worth? How many delightful, praise-filled, expensive meals am I "allowed" to have at the expense of bed nets that can protect people from malaria? Is there some magic balance between keeping people alive vs enjoying God's creation in a way that makes this life worth living?

My simple answer is: I don't know. But the childhood lesson of sharing provides an idea. There's nothing magical about this idea; it's not from Scripture (although the early church appears to have tried it among themselves), it's not traditional, and I don't know anyone who's tried it. But it does have a simple reasonableness to it. What if we tried living on equal shares? If we take the Gross World Product (the total value of all goods produced and services provided) and divide it by the population, we end up with about $16,000 per person per year.** One wage earner could provide a "fair share" for a family of four by earning $64,000 annually.

When we include benefits, an elder at minimum salary makes about $75,000 - over the target, but not ridiculously so. How might it change our Conference if we saw this salary, not as some minimum, but as a fair share for a family of four? For those of us who are supporting fewer than three others, how might we live in a way that attempts to fit a "global fair share" model while taking into account our enforced expenses on health insurance, housing, and pension?

What do you think?
Is this idea reasonable, or just an easy cop-out from making tough decisions? How would you deal with enforced expenses?

*During the "Nothing but Nets" campaign, I often heard "$10 saves a life!" That's not really true; $10 did deliver a bed net, but of course not everyone in Africa without a bed net dies of malaria. According to Giving What We Can (which advocates for giving 10%, not "What We Can"), approximately one life is saved for every $3,300 spent on bed nets or basic medicines.

**So how do we end up in the top 5-10% of the world in terms of income, as stated early in this blog? It's because income is so incredibly unbalanced world wide; those who are making more than we do make a LOT more (which is one of the reasons it's easy to feel poor). About 90% of the world earns less than the "fair share" of $16,000. Over half live on less than $1,500.