one or the other doesn’t have to be
It’s a debate I hear all the time in my polarized state.
Whenever someone says anything about saving Darfur or helping feed children in impoverished Latin American countries, five people or more inevitably pop up and say, “No! We have to take care of ourselves first! Our country is having enough crisis, we’re not responsible for taking care of the whole world!”
Methinks these people don’t quite understand how interdependent humans really are. Helping someone across the world doesn’t mean you can’t watch out for your neighbors, too.
Increasingly, however, what I see is people looking out for themselves. None of the people saying “we should take care of our own country first” ever mention- to me anyway- any local charities they give to, if they’re buying local, or indeed any personal responsibility they themselves are taking for our fellow countrymen/ women. They seem to expect the government to just make all the right decisions for them, and the money will just flow where it should. No matter HOW much the government has proven over the years that they don’t hold themselves to checks and balances without their people watching them.
I wrote an article back on ‘07 about how we could stand not to shop at Abercrombie and Fitch if it means providing safe drinking water for a whole village- and got hate mail from someone telling me how dare I tell them what to do with their money. “You’re probably just some stupid college girl whose parents pay for you car and education and you get all your information from MTV.” Actually I’d recently been to an impoverished Mexican village of Tarahumara Indians where volunteers were helping install simple water filtration systems that had, thus far, had the direct affect of decreasing the local infant mortality rate by 50%. I’m not sure what they show on MTV as I haven’t watched since high school (what was that, 18 years ago?), but I’m relatively certain they’ve never even said “Tarahumara” on MTV.
Today I came across this article:
Homebound Seniors Ask for Simple Necessities
I have no idea how much it costs to “adopt a senior,” but I can bet if people just got together and bought one or two items for these people each, no one would be broke, local seniors would be happier, and it would still be conceivable to help people abroad to have access to clean water.
If I hadn’t a complete lack of organizational skills, I’d try to get folks together. But in my experience, every time I bring it up people either get angry, or they turn their heads. Mostly with the head- turning.
So if I can, I’ll see if I can buy a couple of things for the seniors after I’ve made sure we have a roof over our heads for another month. That much of taking care of ourselves first, I can agree with. But buying a $50 sweatshirt with a popular logo on it first, I just don’t get.
I’d like to help a family with Sub for Santa someday, as they helped us when we were in need and the need has only grown for families with small children.
Okay, soap box put away now.
Another tragedy besides the death of my friend Joe has really gotten to me lately. And I don’t even know this guy:
Maybe it’s because I’m claustrophobic and I have trouble with the thought. Maybe it’s because it’s just a horrible way to die and seems so preventable. Maybe it’s because he leaves behind a pregnant wife and tiny daughter. Maybe it’s because my own husband LOVES caving and has explored Nutty Putty more than once. At any rate, it makes me want to cry. I can only imagine what his wife is going through, and I hope she has the support she needs to make it through this.
And just to make things that much more insane, Ana’s sugar glider had a crisis this morning. His toe got caught in a lace curtain, and as he struggled to get free, it just became tighter. I ended up having to cut the curtain around his tiny toe in order to free him. Then there was the matter of getting the rest of the cloth off his strangled toe.
Matt managed to shear it close enough to get it off without harming the animal, but it wasn’t easy. He was scared and shaking and would make his “angry fiend” noise and crawl back into his sock. Matt and Ana eventually coaxed him out with pecans and tomatoes, and Matt finally got him loose. But his toe is still broken. We managed to get some antibiotics on where there was a tiny spot of blood, then he took off again:
Time to eat leftovers and relax and stuff…
November 27 2009 05:04 pm | animals and culture and kids and life and photography and utah
November 27th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. You and Matt – and your girls. As far as the ’selfish’ people are concerned – they’re everywhere – and they resist everything. Here in Illinois there’s a plan that the State has had for years, to extend a certain highway north to the State line with Wisconsin. It would make the commute for hundreds of people, if not thousands, shorter and quicker. But people living along the path of the extension have managed to block it – again, for years. It’s a classic expression of “Not in my backyard” syndrome. Which is just an expression of hte selfish attitudes you refer to in your post.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I have noticed through the years that it is those in need and the ones who have known need that give the most.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Many of us that talk about helping ourselves first say so because we are totally broke ourselves and yet people are always hitting us up for money for Haitians or something. How can I send money to Haitians when I don’t have enough for my own groceries?
November 28th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Marie- I completely know the feeling. But the people I know who are talking about helping themselves first are usually not in need- they just like complaining about how helping anyone else is “socialism.”
November 30th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I didn’t know that sugar gliders were even a pet. Cute little fellow.
Your ‘rant’ on charity and making the world a better place sort of touches on a blog I wrote a few weeks ago about the charitable campaign for the state of Arizona. I find it a bit annoying that people equate ‘charity’ and ‘helping’ by giving money, or not giving money to a spcific cause. As though charity was some mulitinational cooporation you buy stock in.
If anyone argues with me about charity, I first want to know what THEY have done that is charitable. Not how much they GAVE to the united way. What have they DONE, physically? Have they enlisted in the Peace Corp? Have they volunteered at a senior center? Charity doesn’t cost MONEY….it takes time and most folks are just to stingy to part with that.