Thursday, January 29, 2004
"Fetch me! Carry me!! Peel me a grape!!!"
Kate has written an in depth piece following the thinking about suits for reparations for slavery to it's logical conclusion. Clear and succinct. [I recommend reading both posts.]... What's even more appalling: the fact that I, as a non-African-American, would be considered a racist were I to walk up to someone whose ancestors were slaves and say "You'll never succeed on your own merits unless I pay you, so here's some cash" yet that is precisely the reasoning behind this lawsuit. ...
We have swung from one extreme to the other. The old, John Wayne invulnerability facade ["muh leg just fell off -- not a problem"] has given way to the Culture of the Victim wherein any and every slight, offense or injury is justification for endless howling and demands for retribution and repair -- from others. Admittedly, the stoic and unflappable Marlboro Man approach left many things unaddressed which it would have been better to have attended to and healed, but it did carry within it the expectation that getting past and moving on from injury was not only possible, but desirable and necessary. Kate's phrase, above, is the precise example of the logical endpoint of this approach -- "I was injured and therefore am forever defective. Carry me." That viewpoint to the is the ultimate insult to human dignity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness. We do ourselves irreversible harm by not expecting ourselves, and each other, to get up and march on from any injury. No, the process is not so simple at that. To use a metaphor: after suffering a broken leg, one must undergo hours and hours of painful physical rehabilitation. If one forgoes that effort and spends that time in court suing the owner of the sidewalk where one broke that leg, one will likely never walk on one's own again. Often that idea is characterized as too "harsh and uncaring." That is precisely the feeling that enables [yes, I use that word intentionally, with all its ramifications] the Victimhood to continue. It is the world that is uncaring. Nature has natural laws and doesn't give quarter to those who break them. Every time you let go of your coffee cup, it will fall. Every time. It is up to you to make sure that you let go of it in such a way that it does not drench your keyboard nor burn your lap off. Your responsibility as a thinking being. Yep, I said responsibility. Nature doesn't quibble or cajole if you don't rehabilitate a broken leg -- she assumes that, as a thinking being, you made that choice, and she goes on accordingly. What we are aiming to learn, as a species, is that it is beneficial to us all to take the time and attention to heal any and every injury we can so that we are able to get up and go on with what we were doing.
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