Despite what we may think, we do not live in isolation from others. Rather, we are social beings who are part of a variety of different webs of interrelationships and interpendencies, whether we realize it or not, such as those with our families, friends, neighbors, strangers, arising from our employment, being part of different social organizations, communities, states, nations, the ecosystem, and the world at large.
Moreover, we derive most, if not all, that we consume from the resources and labor provided by other people, most of whom we never have personal contact with. In turn, these people depend on us to provide fair and just compensation to them for what they provide to us. If we consume more than we actually need, we can affect what is available to meet the needs of others.
As we recently experienced from the Covid pandemic, disruptions in supplies and resources, demand that exceeded existing supply, some people hoarding existing supplies and other inflationary forces, resulted in the prices of food and other products to increase. Someone who has the ability to pay the higher prices generally get what they want. What we forget, however, is that reduced supply and higher prices cause others having to forego what they may need, and not just desire, to live. As scripture instructs us:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. (James 2:14–18).
Let us all be guided by the "Golden Rule," as commanded by the Lord, "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Lk 6:31).