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A
World of Free Men
47. But these efforts, as
well as public and private allocations of gifts, loans and investments, are not
enough. It is not just a question of eliminating hunger and reducing poverty.
It is not just a question of fighting wretched conditions, though this is an
urgent and necessary task. It involves building a human community where men can
live truly human lives, free from discrimination on account of race, religion
or nationality, free from servitude to other men or to natural forces which they
cannot yet control satisfactorily. It involves building a human community where
liberty is not an idle word, where the needy Lazarus can sit down with the rich
man at the same banquet table. 52
On the part of the rich man, it calls for
great generosity, willing sacrifice and diligent effort. Each man must examine
his conscience, which sounds a new call in our present times. Is he prepared to
support, at his own expense, projects and undertakings designed to help the
needy? Is he prepared to pay higher taxes so that public authorities may expand
their efforts in the work of development? Is he prepared to pay more for
imported goods, so that the foreign producer may make a fairer profit? Is he
prepared to emigrate from his homeland if necessary and if he is young, in
order to help the emerging nations?
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