So much to learn

Today was a great day. I spent my morning having coffee with Rabbi Alissa Wise who currently works at Mayan doing some amazing work with young, Jewish women. We met for coffee upstairs at one of the local Starbucks. What I loved about this morning with Alissa was all that I learned from her. I like to think of my self as being relatively enlightened. Well, don't we all, really. I like to imagine that I pay attention to issues of class, culture and privilege. And I am constantly surprised at how much more there is to learn...all the ways our systems favor the privileged.

Today, I was bowled away by an underlying reality of charitable giving and tax shelters. When someone makes a large donation to a charity, that money is sheltered from taxes. Those unpaid tax dollars never make it in to the general fund, never come to support government programs addressing our social well-fare. Instead, those who can give enough to shelter their money get to decide through their giving what issues are important, what issues get funded. If I have a million dollars and I decide the most important issue of the day is the national foundation for belly-button lint (or whatever thae cause may be-something serious or something frivolous) then I divert funds from the tax pool which might fund health, education, food assistance, literacy programs, hunger and homeless programs etc etc and put all that money into cause X.

Another example how privilege functions in our society today.

Thank you Alissa to opening my eyes to another unintended side effect to an originally compelling incentive to get people to donate more funds to charity.

So much to learn, so much to learn...