[Fwd: Iraq Dispatches: Inside Abu Hanifa mosque during attack

[boblq]

On Wednesday 01 December 2004 10:50 pm, John H. Robinson, IV wrote:
> boblq wrote:
> > http://www.osocomm.com/Bob/images/garth&precy.jpg
>
> Garth looks familiar. Was he in previous pictures you have shared?

Probably. Garth is one of my nephews. His father my brother died 
a few years ago so I bear more responsibility for him than I might 
otherwise. 

> > I do believe that we need the secular equivalent of churches,
> > sermons, and direct voluntary social  action. I hear lots of talk
> > about what politicians and governments should do by people who
> > walk right by the homeless every day and do nothing.
>
> I agree. But we do have them, they call them Community Centers. I have
> been to the Senior Center here in La Mesa, but it was by invitation. I
> have not been to the Community Center. I don't know about the secular
> equivalent to sermons, though.

I suppose I should check the local CC out. I remember playing ping pong 
in one in West Texas about 50 years ago :) 

> I'll be honest, I am one of those that has and would walk right past the
> homeless and do nothing. 

We all have. But not always. 

> I don't think that direct handouts to the 
> homeless is the right answer. It may work for *some* homeless, but
> without research I would not know if the one on this corner is one of
> those.

I am struggling a bit. I wrote a "brilliant" response to this ... then my daughter
got on this computer and logged me out (She asked, I said "yeh" ) and it
went away. Duh. 

The questions are what is "work" and what is "research". 

I suggest you start with research. Find some homeless people or some 
people with homes and real problems. Get to know them. Find in this 
group of people someone you like. Make a friend of them. This is the
"research" that most folks need to do.  

But fear and a lack of time constrains most people from ever even 
considering such a thing. Most people in this culture seek friends who 
are doing well and may be able to help them (mostly in an crass 
economic sense). 

We call it "networking." 

I am suggesting that one may find friends among the more 
unattractive  elements of our society and that these friends 
may contribute more to your spiritual (psychological or 
emotional if you prefer) growth. 

> I tend to prefer to give my money to an institution with a proven track
> record of real results and directed effort. Yes, direct money brings
> temporary comfort, perhaps in the way of food or drink, or even a bus
> pass for transportation. Is that helpful in the long term? Perhaps the
> bus pass is, as it allows getting to and fro; perhaps to a job
> interview. I don't know.
>
> > I refuse to accept the notion that caring for others is a sign of
> > weakness and naivete. I suggest the real problem is fear. People
> > of all political and religious persuasions are afraid of the underclass,
> > perhaps because their own middle class situations are so precarious.
>
> You are making me feel ashamed for not doing more. I want you to know
> that.

Our culture is at a time and place where the reintroduction of 
shame might not be bad idea. We all could be better than we 
are ... we need to be reminded of that from time to time. 

I recall a prof at UCSD whom I admired a lot but with whom I differed 
on almost every issue. He is now dead of cancer but I remember him 
once saying that "Christians were not necessarily hypocrites but simply 
were not often able to live up to the standards that they believed in." 

This is true of most of us. You don't need to be a Christian to have
high moral standards. You certainly do not need to be a Christian to fail 
to live up to those standards. Where the Christian Right, i.e. the political 
Christians fall down is their utter inability to understand that morality 
has a social as well as an individual dimension. 

I would differ with most Christians on what moral standards are. I am not
a prude or a puritan for instance. I would argue that a Christian puritan 
fascist is immoral. But I wander. 

>
> Bob, are you doing both? Working, and inspiring others with yor example?
> Are you even attempting to inspire?

No attempt to inspire.  I just speak from frustration. I have my projects,
building a few boats (don't need no stinking permits) and using the dregs 
of the social milieu to help. Drunks don't mind sanding for hours. It is not
rocket science. 

And when a guy who has been told for his entire life that he is a 
piece of shit can point at something beautiful and say, "I did that." 
it pleases me. So I keep on doing things that please me. 

I just wish more people would do this kind of direct thing for their 
own sake as well as for the sake of those who do the sanding. 
So I write this partly to suggest that it is really pretty easy to 
get more involved with your fellows and to enjoy the process. 

I guess I repeat my same old refrain, "All it takes is a little 
imagination." I am suggesting that people get to know each other
better and that they consciously engage in becoming friends 
with unattractive people for their own personal growth. 

boblq





> -john