Eric & all,<\/p>\n
>Stan said:
\n> >Frank said:
\n> >I agree wholeheartedly that there are way too many people on this
\n> >planet using way too many resources. As far as what to do
\n> >about it, I think we should do nothing.
\n> In my opinion this should include doing nothing to help
\n> people live longer. Use medicine to alleviate pain, but not
\n> to prevent dying.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have time tonight, but I think this is a very important part of
\nthe puzzle. How to do what we can and know how to feel about the
\ntragedies we\u2019re unable prevent. The outside interventions in other
\npeople\u2019s societies that have been failing us for a long time, sometimes
\njust multiplying the tragedy to come, need to be stopped by a
\ncombination of being reinvented, and the wisdom of accepting the things
\nwe can\u2019t change.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the problem with aid programs has been interpreted as making
\npeople aid dependent, standing in line waiting for hand-outs, rather
\nthan assisting them in becoming independent. It\u2019s been one of the big
\nissues for the neocon radicals, used to attack government aid of all
\nkinds. In the Times today there were two stories on it. Front page a
\nstory about how the Palestinian community has become totally aid
\ndependent and suffering now that their government is out of favor. Then
\non the front of the Business Section Paul Wolfowitz, the neocon chairman
\nof the World Bank, was in the news for holding up dozens of agreements
\ndue to poor protections against corruption. He gave it to seem that
\nlots of nations are demanding their handouts and perhaps not willing to
\nprovide sufficient safeguards, others thought he was just being mean.<\/p>\n
It reminds me of the special anger the neocons reserved for Bill Clinton
\nfor taking their idea of reforming welfare, redesigning it as a ladder
\nfor people to climb on rather than a trap to get caught it, and taking
\nthe \u2018wrath of God\u2019 purpose the neocons really wanted away from it. He
\ngot it enacted as an act of more intelligent generosity instead. Boy
\nthey hated him for that\u2026.<\/p>\n
So, just curing disease and feeding the starving children, the charity
\nbutton, is the wrong motive because it often just multiplies the
\nproblem. There\u2019s got to be a right motive for allowing some
\npreventable tragedies happen, other than the temptation many people are
\ndrawn to, that helping other people is a kind of robbery and any tragedy
\nis just punishment for people being undeserving.<\/p>\n
Phil<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eric & all, >Stan said: > >Frank said: > >I agree wholeheartedly that there are way too many people on this > >planet using way too many resources. As far as what to do > >about it, I think we should do nothing. > In my opinion this should include doing nothing to help > … Continue reading Good ideas, so far, more still needed . . .<\/span>