The notion of social status has struck different opinions from many people and the way they view and perceive people from different social statuses in the world. Dr.Tressie McMillan Cottom questions why people that are financially unstable have to spend a lot of money on luxurious and useless status items like handbags and clothes that are clearly out of their budget. Cottom depicts how the rich people judge the social status of the poor by using terms such as respectability rewards, a crap-shoot, and limit to access of wealth and power with the attempt to explain the issues of social status in the world. In the context of Cottom, respectability reward would mean the reward one earns when he/she possess luxurious items or appears to be wealthy or maybe falls either in the middle or high social class. The poor tend to develop a sense of belonging, and in the run, they make illogical decisions of buying expensive status symbols to feel acceptable to a particular group. In the article, women and people of color were judged differently and harshly based on appearance, and they were often conflated with being poor. Crap-shoot refers to the uncertainty or the risk about a situation or a matter, and the aspect of respectability reward is viewed as a crap-shoot. One can strive to belong to the group of not poor, but they might or might not be accepted by the not poor based on the reasons of status symbols. Cottom mentions a lady who comes for an interview wearing a tank top instead of a silk shell with the attempt to secure a job to lift her above her minimum wage but is rejected because she is incompatible to a BMW-driving vice president in the business image. Most poor people are denied access to wealth and power mostly by the gatekeepers depending on their status symbols that were deemed as the keys to opening the gates.

The organization I am working with is the Redding Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church, a Christian-based faith organization based in Eureka Way, Redding, California. The mission statement of Reding SDA Church is “To proclaim to our community the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14: 6—12, leading them to accept Jesus Christ   as their personal Savior, uniting with His church, nurturing and preparing for His soon return” (Mission – Vision – Values — Redding Seventh-Day Adventist Church). The vision statement of Redding SDA Church is “We are committed to the growth of every person into a ministry of Jesus Christ by helping them to discover their God-given gifts, providing the necessary training and support, encouraging them to carry out the mission within the values of the church” (Mission – Vision – Values — Redding Seventh-Day Adventist Church). The values of the organization are aimed at worshiping the Creator-God, providing service to others, actively using God-given gifts to serve others in the society, loving everyone and recognizing that everything comes from God. However the website of the Redding SDA Church does not state what their values are influenced by, it is most probable that the values might have been influenced by various citations from the Bible verse related to worship, care, preparation, and service and sharing. The values of the Redding SDA Church portray the ethical manner that the word of God and God himself expects as to live with everyone through love, service, and unity. Moreover, the values contemplate the right way in which Christians ought to live and worship the creator.

Work Cited

“Mission – Vision – Values — Redding Seventh-Day Adventist Church”. Redding Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 2018, http://www.reddingadventist.org/mission-vision-values/.

 
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