From: John W Haggerty (empresstheodora@juno.com)
Date: Thu Jun 13 2002 - 20:54:33 MDT
On Thu, 13 Jun 2002 19:24:18 -0700 Samantha Atkins
<samantha@objectent.com> writes:
>
>
> E. Shaun Russell wrote:
>
> > Alex Ramonsky wrote:
> >
> >> Rich fat westerners with blisters on their asses have not the
> scars
> >> of those who've lived the other way; scars physical, mental and
> >> emotional.
> >> Now you know why I'm such a bad-tempered, paranoid old fart. : )
> >> Ramonsky
> >
> >
> > I might concede you the point that many (by no means all)
> Westerners
> > have had it easy compared to other countries, but without sounding
>
> > overly rude, I have to ask: "so what?" I will agree that I am
> fortunate
> > to live in North America, and I don't really take it for granted;
> I may
> > complain occasionally about Canadian politics, but faced with the
> option
> > of having to live in Tunisia or Uganda, I certainly prefer my
> relatively
> > "rich" and "fat" Western life.
> >
> > What I *don't* feel is guilty. It is true that in many other
> countries
> > of the world the hardships are exponentially higher than in North
>
> > America and Western Europe. But isn't that largely the "luck of
> the
> > draw" when it comes to where one is born?
>
>
> Well sure. But as I read it, the point of Alex's post was not
> to instill guilt but to point out that drawing conclusions about
> what is possible *globally* from only a very relatively well-off
> perspective if fraught with difficulties. Especially if one
> assumes those other poorer-than-dirt people are lazy, evil or
> both. One has no choice about where one is born. But there is
> choice in whether we own the task of bringing everyone up to a
> good standard of living for participating and contributing today
> and in the future. And there is a choice about how we see
> others and what we assume.
>
>
>
>
> > I really had no choice in
> > where I was born --I would have chosen ten miles to the south of
> where I
> > actually was so that I could be an American. But this Robin Hood
> > mentality puts me off somewhat: am I a bad person because I
> haven't
> > suffered as many hardships as a middle African or Eastern
> European?
>
>
> No one said that so I don't see why you read it that way.
>
>
> - samantha
>
>
I believe that there are fates that are worse than death or poverty.
Emotional misery can be much worse
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