Garth George: Man plans ... and hopes

As another year (all too short, at my age) draws to a close and a new year begins I suppose one should reflect on the passing one and begin to wonder about the next one.

Not that there's any profit in it. What is past is past and while it might be able to be modified, it certainly can't be undone. What is to come remains hidden to us mere mortals and is known only to God, who sees the beginning and the end of all things.

Which is a very good reason to stay under his protection and care and to pray daily as he taught us, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" or, if you prefer (which I don't), the modern version, "Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil."

And never forgetting, "Give us this day our daily bread ..."

It's a very good reason, too, to live one day at a time, even, sometimes, one minute at a time.

For all we have is now - all the rest is either history or mystery. I could be dead before I finish writing this column, or before it's published, or tomorrow or next week, so what's the point in worrying?

In any case, God knows I have enough trouble coping with today without fizzing about past foul-ups or scheming future ones.

Sure, like everybody I make plans. But I don't try to live them today. Having made them I simply do what I can today to see that they come to fruition - or don't, as the case may be.

If they do, that's great; if they don't that's okay, too. There'll be something else to do instead.

God is in control and the world is unfolding as it should, not always to my liking and generally beyond my understanding. But that's okay, too. It's a thing called faith, which the writer to the Hebrews defined so beautifully as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Then there's hope - and hope in God is the only hope worth having. He has never, ever let me down (though I've accused him of it a few times, I must admit).

In November most of us pinned our hope on one group of politicians to improve our lot over the next three years, but at the same time there is little expectation of any real improvement.

Nor can there be as long as too many of us ignore the most serious and vexing problems facing New Zealand - and, indeed, the Western World - now and in the immediate future: income inequality and unemployment.

In their book The Spirit Level, British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett reveal that among the world's wealthiest countries, it is the more unequal ones that do worse according to almost every quality-of-life indicator.

The fundamental findings of the book, which are backed by sound social science research, is that inequality damages community life and the relationships that hold nations together. They show that many social problems are more common in societies with larger income differences.

The sad thing is that New Zealand is among the most unequal of the "rich" countries. We have poorer health, higher teenage birth rates, more people in prison, more mental illness, more obesity, more drug abuse, lower levels of child well-being, huge personal debt, and less social mobility than the more equal rich countries.

And if we are not to see a generation of young people damaged by long-term unemployment, and a society becoming more antisocial, we need resolute action to tackle these insidious and corrosive economic and social issues.

Happy New Year.

garth.george@hotmail.com