The 2010 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner, hosted in a country where the disparity between rich and poor is striking.  The paradox of hosting a multi-billion dollar global entertainment event amongst an economically lopsided population brings to light society’s seemingly tunnel-vision attitude towards pleasure-seeking, coupled with an indifferent oversight of attempting to meet the community’s basic needs:

We see amongst us men who are overburdened with riches on the one hand, and on the other those unfortunate ones who starve with nothing; those who possess several stately palaces, and those who have no where to lay their head.

Abdu’l-Bahá : Paris Talks

One could mention that an event such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup provides employment for thousands.  This may be true, but of a certainty there exist more genuine approaches of sustainable empowerment and community building; approaches that are not the mere by-products of a once-off event.

One could also argue that this camaraderie and entertainment promote personal as well as community well-being. This may be true, but where do our boundaries lie?

One of the signs of a decadent society, a sign which is very evident in the world today, is an almost frenetic devotion to pleasure and diversion, an insatiable thirst for amusement, a fanatical devotion to games and sport, a reluctance to treat any matter seriously, and a scornful, derisory attitude towards virtue and solid worth…Frivolity palls and eventually leads to boredom and emptiness, but true happiness and joy and humour that are parts of a balanced life that includes serious thought, compassion and humble servitude to God, are characteristics that enrich life and add to its radiance.

(From a letter dated 8 May 1979 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

Presently, the global sports industry is worth billions.  The question is what should it be worth?  Are the salaries that individual players earn just and acceptable?  Is the importance attached to one’s fanatical devotion to largely commercial entities justified?  Importantly, what qualitative value can be attached to sports, as far as the rank of professions and service to society is concerned?

The arrangements of the circumstances of the people must be such that poverty shall disappear, that everyone, as far as possible, according to his rank and position, shall share in comfort and well-being…Now the remedy must be carefully undertaken. It cannot be done by bringing to pass absolute equality between men…Equality is a chimera! It is entirely impracticable! Even if equality could be achieved it could not continue — and if its existence were possible, the whole order of the world would be destroyed. The law of order must always obtain in the world of humanity. Heaven has so decreed in the creation of man.

Some are full of intelligence, others have an ordinary amount of it, and others again are devoid of intellect. In these three classes of men there is order but not equality.

Certainly, some being enormously rich and others lamentably poor, an organization is necessary to control and improve this state of affairs. It is important to limit riches, as it is also of importance to limit poverty. Either extreme is not good. To be seated in the mean [1] is most desirable.

[1 'Give me neither poverty nor riches.' -- Prov. 30: 8]

Abdu’l-Bahá goes on further to outline the basic requirements of preserving the ‘law of order’:

There must be special laws made, dealing with these extremes of riches and of want. The members of the Government should consider the laws of God when they are framing plans for the ruling of the people. The general rights of mankind must be guarded and preserved.

The government of the countries should conform to the Divine Law which gives equal justice to all. This is the only way in which the deplorable superfluity of great wealth and miserable, demoralizing, degrading poverty can be abolished. Not until this is done will the Law of God be obeyed.

March 22 is World Water Day. Lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation kills at least 1.6 million children under the age of 5 years yearly, as outlined in the latest report published by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. Aside from the obvious health benefits derived from having access to adequate water and sanitation, it is interesting to note that the positives also extend into the realms of gender inequality and education.

UNICEF states that “women and girls bear the burden of fetching water – and as a result miss out on opportunities for education, productive activities or leisure time”:

Women and girls must be educated — spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. A mother must be educated in all the relevant fields of knowledge in order to perform her role as transmitter of culture and values. A child needs a nurturing environment and wise guidance in the first years of life in order to develop sound character and a well trained mind. If the mother is unable, because of her own deficiencies, to provide her children with experiences which will equip them for later, formal schooling, they will find themselves at a serious, often crippling, disadvantage.

(Baha’i International Community, 1992 Mar 17, Equality Girl Child)

A study entitled “Transforming time into money using water: A participatory study of economics and gender in rural India”, highlights the benefits and importance of the role of women in society, given equal opportunities.

A similar statement, pointing out the potential that equality between the sexes can have in economic performance, was recently issued at the UN “Financing for Gender Equality” roundtable by representatives of the Baha’i International Community. It is often the case that certain deeply rooted traditional and cultural practices prevent women from being provided with equal opportunity. Such practices can be eliminated with spiritual and moral education:

Presently the world is caught in a cycle of miseducation, wherein harmful character traits are passed from one generation to the next, retarding social progress. One source of this miseducation is the failure to respect women, especially in the home…..The world can ill afford the consequences of continued ignorance and injustice…..The cause of universal education deserves the utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For ignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples and for the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations to meet their peoples’ needs, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. It is for this reason that the decision-making agencies involved would do well to consider giving first priority to the education of women and girls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society.

(Baha’i International Community, 1992 Mar 17, Equality Girl Child)

The message from these statements is clear. Access to safe water is essential for human survival; yet as we progress towards this aim, it is important not to lose sight of the eventual goals of self-sufficiency and economic advancement for all. Achieving this, in turn, requires greater capacity-building at the grassroots level through programmes of education, with particular emphasis on those who are most affected by the water crisis, namely women and girls.

Such a commemoration has, as one of it’s aims, the promotion a more balanced civilization, following a past in which man has “dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind“; this being a product of physical difference. Although physically distinct, our spiritual identities are equal; a soul has no gender:

In the Divine Creation there is no such distinction. Neither sex is superior to the other in the sight of God. Why then should one sex assert the inferiority of the other, withholding just rights and privileges as though God had given His authority for such a course of action?

(Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 160)

I found this very nice short video, which illustrates how one African village is putting these ideas into practice. The interview is with Chief Ntambo: