by sonnyboy 64 Replies latest jw friends
I agree it's kinda hard to feel compassion anymore , we do live in a dog eat dog world where it seems only the crooks get ahead anyway . It is kinda nice to see average joe step up and help their neighbor out like is going on .Who knows maybe it will change some things in the world ........ I doubt it but will definately change some people .........
heathen of the been kicked while down class ............
Oh, Geez, I kinda agree!!
There might be 10,000 dead here. There's about 100,000 dead a year at least in the Sudan. And it's largely because the people won't convert to Islam. Which in the long run may mean more than the dean and hte gas in the south from this hurricane. So, while I care, Yeah, well, shit happens. But we ignore shit happening to people who are equally as valid, and we CAN do something about that. We can't do much about a hurricane.
Take it easy on sonnyboy. He's kinda got a point.
sonny...look, don't get upset....my comment was directed at many people...I am not picking on you.
Don't be sorry about the thread...this is just a board...you had something to say, you said it...no problem. If you haven't already, and still want it locked...then pm a mod.
Really though, I have posted things before I thought twice about after...it happens...this thread will be buried in several hours most likely anyway. Don't let it bug you.
Thanks avishai. After my initial post I kind of expected worse; it started out all wrong.
Sometimes you wake up in the morning and just feel sick with the world.
I'm not upset, eyebrow. People have the right to blast me if they're offended by anything I say. I need to learn to take criticism a little better, that's all. I may get hostile for a split second but then everything's cool.
avishai --- I think foreign policy is completely different than domestic policy . When the US gets mixed up with these other nations it most likely leads to making a bad situation worse anyway . I think however that the people in the US are entitled to help because they are tax payers and governments first responsiblity should be to take care of emergency situations like this . Which by the way they did a piss poor job of to begin with .
Been told that Cyclones/twister/hurricane (same thing but named different in different countries) happen all the time we just don't hear about it, but certain Hurricanes attract the media and we do hear alot about it.
I understand your views Sonneyboy, different things struck chords for different people, one person may feel for world poverty while somebody else would feel for Rights getting abused.
Katrina seems to be a sensitive topic discussed over and over on this forum, there are like millions of threads on it lol!
Evanescence
Thing is when i happens to a city like New Orleans you realise that if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere. I watch the news dumbfounded at the devastation, and it seems the US government arent doing much about it.
Sonnyboy, I started a similar thread about giving to the homeless a couple of weeks ago. I think it's easy to become jaded and self-centred when you're suffering yourself - and poverty is real suffering which leads to anxiety, stress and depression. Don't be too hard on yourself! I hope you get to keep your house.
Homo erectus cared for their sick and elderly.
Neanderthals left flowers in graves.
Wolves and Cape Hunting Dogs are highly social, caring for the young communally and giving food to sick members. And they are animals. I think we can do a bit better than that...
It would seem that whatever quaint theories people have along the lines of "I'm alright Jack, $uck you", actually caring for other humans is a favorable charcteristic for survival. We've been doing it for millions of years, if it hand't been beneficial those with that trait would have probably died out.
It's also easy to make it easy on yourself NOT to care. Anyone who thinks about this knows this situation is NOT about a few thouisand looters, but about hundreds of thousands of displaced people, many of whom have lost nothing. The looters may not do anything for you in return, but the majority of people can't be dismissed by such conscience-salving excuses. Maybe if you actually made a fair comparison your stance would be more defensable?
Obviously there is a difference between one's immediate kin group or community and people thousands of miles away. But the difference is less in an age when modern communications has shrunk the scale of the world so dramatically.
In the modern world we are all closer together than ever before. If we work together and care for each other, the benefits will be greater for the individual than if we try to make ourselves think we are independant of our fellow man. This isn't a theory, it's a scientific fact. Do some research on altruism; there are certain patterns of behaviour that are the most beneficial in a population, and they are ones that ignore one or two instrances of a 'favour' not being returned before stopping giving favours.
The behavioural trait of simply NOT helping others only pays off in the very short term.
In the modern world we are all closer together than ever before. If we work together and care for each other, the benefits will be greater for the individual than if we try to make ourselves think we are independant of our fellow man. This isn't a theory, it's a scientific fact. Do some research on altruism; there are certain patterns of behaviour that are the most beneficial in a population, and they are ones that ignore one or two instrances of a 'favour' not being returned before stopping giving favours.The behavioural trait of simply NOT helping others only pays off in the very short term.
Abaddon!!!!!!!!
What a GREAT POST!!!! It took me ten minute to decide what to highlight without just about copying the entire post. I couldn't agree with you more.
Sonnyboy,
Don't worry about trying to get this thread locked. Some VERY interesting points of view have come out of your original post, and who knows how many more will yet be written. As I said before, you are entitled to your own opinions as all of us are on here, even if you care to change them at any given time! We all have that option, right?
Pick up your chin and your spirits and know that so MANY of us have "been there" and felt the same despair and disgust that you are having now. You are still a good person going through a bad time right now!
hugs,
Annie
