To adorn ... or not to adorn ...

At some point, you have to ask yourself - where are your efforts better spent? I had this conversation (it was actually a heated debate), on an unrelated issue - excessive spending on religious/spiritual locations/monuments. I am of the opinion, that no matter how sacred a place is - it is absurd to spend vast amounts of money on it, when less would certainly do, and the money is better spent on feeding the poor, developing nations and developing education systems - systems where it doesn't have to be about the choice of school or work, but where funds could be better spent on education reimbursement programs. Indeed, is that not a better demonstration of worship and love for God - taking care of your fellow man, serving greater humanity.

The counter argument was, for a particularly spiritual/sacred location - where most visitors come only once in a lifetime - the money put into the aesthetic beauty of the location is well spent, and that the money is a mere drop in a teacup. The passion with which it was argued added to it being more compelling - while I respect it as an opposing view, I prefer to buy into Rumi's saying - The path is the service of others (the saying is actually "The path is the service of others, not prayer beads and dervish robes." While this is not entirely accurate usage, I think it works). I will maintain though - who are we to decide which way is right or wrong, perhaps both roads are equally legit - and besides, while unity is preferred - maybe they're both right. Why put all of our eggs into one basket huh? I'd prefer to unify over bigger things than this, than to shatter under the weight of little disagreements. All that matters in the end is the intention with which we carry on our merry way.

[old draft; dug up to get some momentum back]