Saturday, April 4, 2009

One would hope...

I hope the only reason I haven't heard more stories like this, as opposed to stories about what sort of bonuses are "owed" to people, what tax bracket is fair, and who does and doesn't deserve financial assistance, is because this story is not considered "newsworthy."

Check out the link here. It's really something.

I hope it is not because people have lost their compassion for each other. Because if this is the case, the only thing left for the currently 13.2 million unemployed citizens, is to act out of necessity, which frightens me much more than any tax bracket.

From John Steinbeck's novel In Dubious Battle (1936):

(Mac, with Jim's assistance, performs a birth for London's daughter-in-law at a migrant camp. He has all the men in the camp provide some form of white cloth, mainly shirts and handkerchiefs, to use for the procedure. When the child is born, though Mac does use most of the cloth, he instructs London to burn them all).

"Jim said, 'You didn't need all that cloth. Why did you tell London to burn it?'

'Look, Jim. Don't you see? Every man who gave part of his clothes felt that the work was his own. They all feel responsible for that baby. It's theirs, because something from them went to it. To give back the cloth would cut them out. There's no better way to make men part of a movement that to have them give something to it. I bet they all feel fine right now'" (67).

3 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Jason, this made me cry. And I'm at work, hehe.

Thanks for sharing that. It's pretty awesome.

Anonymous said...

Jason, thanks for sharing this, it put the same tightness in my throat.Maybe we had to get this far whacked out as a country to realize that we need to come back together. Maybe it has gotten to the point where each of us has someone we care about who is going without. dad s.

diane said...

Jason, your blog photo is awesome, and I am assuming your favorite photographer is responsible, great!

I also relate to your story, I read onces that they asked Mother Theasa about all the thousands of people that need help, and she said, she only sees one at the moment. interesting.