From an essay titled Where Are The Poor by Dorothy Day, posted at The ChesterBelloc Mandate (which has just a ton of good reading, by the way);
'We cannot conclude without mentioning that the very best charitable organization would not suffice of itself alone to assist those in need. Personal action must intervene, full of solicitude, anxious to overcome the distance between helper and helped, drawing near to the poor because he is Christ's brother and our own.
The great temptation in an age which calls itself social--when besides the Church, the state, the municipality and other public bodies devote themselves so much to social problems--is that when the poor man knocks on the door, people, even believers will just send him away to an agency or social center, to an organization, thinking that their personal obligation has been sufficiently fulfilled by their contributions in taxes or voluntary gifts to those institutions."
The poor don't very much need to stand in line at a drab, soulless, fluorescent-lit government office and pick up a check. They need money, yes, but it would do worlds more good if this help came through a friend. This is how we help the poor - not by inventing this or that new program, but by making poor friends. Not by being concerned about "the poor", but by showing concern for a poor person. This is probably the only truly effective way of doing missions, too... by making friends - true friends - of unbelievers, whether here or in some distant country.
Mercy Me, the Blech-nology
"One aspect of the ugly/disposable culture that I didn't even touch on is the environmental impact. Ugly disposable stuff is destined for the landfill, or for this Texas-sized island of floating trash out in the Pacific that I keep hearing about.
I think it's probably a moral duty to find a way to quit doing this, to stop making and buying what is essentially trash. Local products, less packaging, better quality... I know I'm preaching to the choir, here.
There are probably numerous financial gurus who would blanch to hear people talking this way. The entire world economy seems to be dependent on American wastefulness and profligacy. Today, for instance, Wall Street sneezed and the world has caught cold. If we make too much noise about curbing our consumption and living more simply, we will likely be seen by some as economic anarchists of a sort.
Does that make me a crunchy-con? If so, do I get a secret decoder ring?"
I've given thought from time to time on what I see as the weakness in Chesterton's idea of Distributism, that is; how do you go about implementing such a program? Truthfully, though, I don't think now that "implement" is the right word. Again, such a thing will have to happen one family at a time, one street at a time. Once it becomes some kind of program or system that people are more or less made to conform to, it will become a kind of tyranny, one way or another.