You will always have the poor with you..
Tonight, in light of some big dollar decisions I am making at work I started reflecting back on who it is our work benefits outside of ourself and trying to work out if we should spend $$$ on systems. I was drawn, as I often am back to my times in India.
I looked back through the images rapid fire, and I was reminded of asking the same questions in India around computer systems in Nagaland, and in the other hospitals I worked at. Is money better spent on basic services, rather then IT?
I never came to any really good answer, except that IT enables those helping to do so more effectively.
Anyway it was in reflecting back, that I remembered the passage in the Bible where Jesus says, “You will always have the poor with you, but not always me.” I have always found that statement haunting, and today I found it more haunting. I realised that burnt into my retina are images I will never forget, and in my memory bank are memories I should never forget. No matter how far from extreme poverty I go, I will always have the poor with me for the memories of them are a part of me.
I guess though the second part is where I have made some internal justification to myself around lifestyle. I figure I won’t always have my friends, and the joys of Australia with me and so I often indulge on the idea that I am only here for a while, before I return to the field. I guess I need to work out sometime if I am still going back, and in what capacity. The job I have now kind of gets in the way of that side of work, and is too comfortable and easy to stay in long past when I should perhaps go.
But enough of that. I saw Harry Potter today, it had the most deliciously awkward and amusing romance, and also had a decent simplified plot from the book and was good fun..
Did we see the same movie???