The Blue Sweater: A Review

The Blue Sweater: A Review

The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

I will begin this review by asking you to close your eyes and imagine I am a) someone of great influence in your life who is b) standing in front of you c) with a book in my hand d) entitled The Blue Sweater, and e) telling you to "Read It." You should read it. Really.

What Novogratz has done here is created an honest account of her struggle with the "questions about justice and compassion, power and money, and the randomness of where we are born and how much that determines who we become." More importantly, she has allowed us a deep look into her experience working with the poorest people on this planet - a journey far more insightful than any how-to-end-poverty-in-one-generation manual. She boldly faces the failures of traditional charity while creating hope in a system of giving that is implicit in its creation of dignity.

Likewise, Novogratz confronts the systems that disallow the success of honest entrepreneurship, be it governmental corruption, traditions that subjugate women, or inert religion. One comment about the Rwandan genocide that destroyed so much of her work and so many lives in that country should be a warning about the distortion of faith;

Religion had played such a tragic, disappointing role: When thousands of people had fled to the churches for safety, they found not sanctuaries, but killing fields. Some priests and nuns became modern Judases, and the masses, previously so beholden to authority, ensured that neither house of God nor shrine was sacred.

In another experience, she is forced to confront the pitfalls of the very system she is trying to create. While working in the Mississippi Delta, Novogratz realized "how easily capitalism can be manipulated to oppress the most vulnerable." This led her to understanding that "good public policy must accompany market-oriented solutions that are undergirded with an imperative of moral leadership."

But these lessons aside, it is the amazing optimism coursing throughout the pages of The Blue Sweater that leaves the most indelible impression. It is this theme of Hope that makes this book a "must read" and it's story of redemption that makes it remarkable. Or, as so aptly stated by a survivor of the Rwandan genocide:

In the end, goodness triumphs over the bad. It is our challenge to do good and to serve others without waiting for the good to be returned. I am convinced that those people cultivate universal love will have good fortune on earth. In serving others, I found light in a place of utmost darkness."

You should read it. Really.