Sunday, March 24, 2013
My Reply to Your Negative Commentary
The biggest problem I see out there is how much people prefer to identify with their particular opinion and spend their energy attacking others. What, besides our egos, keeps us from having meaningful, constructive, problem solving conversations? Believe it or not, our government prefers us to be at each others throats, rather than unified.
Sure there are issues we won't all agree on, but why not talk about something we can. Hunger? Homelessness? Our system being designed to create both while others, more specifically .001% of our population collects all the material wealth left in our country? Our money being worth nothing yet we are told we need to get a job and work for it? Maybe we can agree our education system is completely broken, which I believe is to blame for most of the terribly uneducated, poorly written commentaries out there. Or maybe we can find common ground talking about our medical system and how it kills more people every year than anything other than heart disease and cancer, and preventative medicine is totally unavailable to anyone below upper middle class. Of course maybe this wouldn't be the case if our food supply wasn't packed full of hormones, antibiotics, toxins, GMOs, and filler chemicals. And again, to afford quality food, you have to live in the right place and not be poor.
Let's quit bringing each other down and start helping each other up, eh?
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I totally agree with you Marci. I think that part of the problem could be that so many people hold such stereotypes when it comes to homelessness. In fact, many folks believe that the people who are homeless are doing so by choice. I will admit there are some who do choose to live that way. There's a gigantic amount of people who are victims of circumstance. People turn so many blind eyes to it anymore. It's sad really. Miss ya. Be well.
ReplyDeleteI feel like homelessness really points to the ineptitude of our social structure. It's estimated that 2.3 and 3.5 million people experience homelessness per year, while in 2008 there were 18.6 million empty homes. I don't care what anyone says about money, or welfare, what we are living in is insanity.
ReplyDeleteBeing homeless by choice is something I can understand, but we leave our mentally ill out on the streets because its easier to ignore them. Children without parents, and poor families... the rich are no more deserving of a roof over their head and a warm meal.
Working in vacation rentals is when this idea really started to bother me. It is already a poor community over here on the coast, and people that don't live here buy second homes to rent out for a profit, but they don't think about the families here who cant afford rent because of the inflated rental market, and who move out of town because someone who already has a home of their own wants to make more money.
Capitalism is nothing short of heartless.
Capitalism heartless?? Hmmm. If not for the people who work hard, start businesses and employee people, who would provide the charity for those in need? You might say a church. Yes, but who is donating a tithe each week? The penniless? No. You might answer the government. But who is paying the largest portion of taxes? Those who work hard and make more money. If you can't afford where you are currently living, then you have the CHOICE to move somewhere else or the CHOICE to change jobs to one that will pay better. you have the CHOICE to better you skills or mind through education. You are correct about our social structure not supporting the homeless. Used to be that charitable organizations helped those in need, but now the government has take over that cause. And, as usual, they do a shitty job of it. And, yes, I do think those who work their asses off are more deserving to have a decent roof over their head. Why should someone who sits on their tush all day have the same things as someone that works hard everyday?
ReplyDeleteI understand that from our culture's perspective you only deserve anything if you are a hard worker, and hard work = pay-off, but it doesn't work like that in reality and that is why we have the problems we do.
ReplyDeleteLook at me for example, I have my degree, have worked since I was 15 and have always been an incredibly hard worker, but now i have a physical disability that keeps me from working a typical full time job of any kind. BTW I have never been employed making more than $12/hr, which is good pay for where I live and I still wasn't able to even rent a place. I have the option of filing for disability, but I refuse to take from a system I don't believe in. I do not have the choice to move somewhere else or to simply chose to work a better paying job. My choice is to create my own job, which is what many young graduates are having to do today. With so many baby-boomers financially unable to retire, the jobs just aren't there.
I'm not talking about the government providing homes for people, or more welfare, or for the wealthy to take care of people they don't know. What I am talking about is a radical shift in the way people view money. I believe the answers to many of our problems in the US right now (e.g. homelessness, hunger, health, education) can be solved by people being less individualistic and forming strong, caring, loving, sustainable communities.
I do not believe it is right that .01% of the population has over 60% of the money, and the bottom 50% hold only 7%. I also don't believe those wealthy families that run the banks and the biggest corporations in the world are harder workers than all the people I know and deserving luxury which forces others suffer.
So yes, when a system rewards crooks and spits on physically and mentally disabled citizens, I will call it heartless. Life isn't about money and profit, everyone is going go lose it when they die anyway. Life should be about community and creating a better world for the future, the best way we know how.
Also, I am reminded of something my dad said to me a long time ago.
ReplyDelete"If you are a Republican when you are young, you are heartless. If you are a Democrat when you are older, you are an idiot."
I don't identify as either; it is the dichotomy that keeps us separate. and both are ultimately different sides of the same coin. I know I am young, and liberal, and have nothing to lose and that shapes my views. My goal with this post was to argue that even though everyone can't agree on everything, we don't have to allow our opinions to keep us from taking positive steps to improve the quality of life for as many people as possible.
If you really want to know what I think, Pam, I don't believe the government should give anyone much of anything, including education and health care. I believe each of us should take responsibility for more than ourselves and our nuclear families. Homeschooling communities are amazing, and we don't need doctor's for as much as they would like us to think. I also think, for some people communal living could be a much healthier option than living alone. Others would obviously prefer to sustain their own home with close family.
We live in such a large, diverse country and though there are many wonderful communities, many are sub-par, disconnected, and even dangerous.
I know you have an unusual circumstance and really feel for you. There are definitely groups that get left out because of our screwed up system. We should take care of those who cannot care for themselves (and in the past Churches were there to pick up the pieces many times) Now, more and more regulations are put on charities and tax benefits are taken away. It is designed so people MUST fall back on teh government. Scary really.
ReplyDeleteI have the biggest problem with government sticking its fingers in everything. Capitalism left on its own is a very successful system. It's when the government starts choosing the winners and losers that we have problems. Regulations, subsidies, paybacks, etc all give artificial strength to certain markets. Left on their own, markets will quickly stabilize, demand for new products will be met and customers will seek the best value.
Sounds to me, Marci, that you are not a liberal as much as you are a Libertarian. Welcome to the club :)