Re: [Fwd: Re: Reforming Education]

Clint O'Dell (clintodell@hotmail.com)
Sat, 09 Oct 1999 10:24:30 MDT

>Street people aren't on the street because they can't take
>care of themselves.

Of course not. I said they are there by choice.

>They are there because the have social problems. They
>either don't want help or they drive away people who could help them.

And so why help them? If they don't want help then don't help them. If they drive people away, then don't help them. Now, if they drive people a way because they stink and they ask you to help rid them of this problem then you can help them.

>Actually, if all it took to kill ourselves was to wish to be dead for 1
>second, we would all be dead. If someone truly wants to kill themselves,
>then fine.

>But in most cases people who are 'rescued' are grateful.
>Don't argue with societies impulse to protect its members. Argue with the
>harmful, dysfunctional way it does it.

I doubt it. Having lived with hundreds of suicidal people and can say that is not true. Most people play the game. I've talked with so many suicidal people who say "I'm glad to have been saved from myself" because that is what is expected of them. They are looking for a 'norm', to belong, and by saying those things they don't realy mean they try to fit in. It gets them out of the hospital faster. Of course, at least 75% of these people try to commit suicide again. You can say it's a clinical depression and in there genes so they realy don't mean it. Well, you can say all our thoughts are clinical and its in our genes. That's all the better reason to let them kill themselves if they wish. I have seen a dramatic increase of retarded adults and children in just the last few years. Are we going to breed humanity into a retarded species? People who try to commit suicide and fail and later say they are glad they didn't, well the ment it at the time and had they succeeded they wouldn't be alive to think other wise. They are dead, there life to them having never meant anything because they aren't alive to preceive it. They don't exist, they don't matter.

I'm not saying you can't help people. It wouldn't be a very fun society if nobody did. I'm saying don't force your help onto people who don't want it.

As for your hungry dog scenario. The dog is hungry but will bite you if you feed it, so you drop a steak around the corner and the dog happily gobbles it up not knowing it was you who gave it to him. That's fine. You didn't make the dog do anything he didn't want to do. You didn't kidnap him and take him home so you could care for him for his own good.



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