I saw this quote today here (a decent read too):Democracy requires of its citizens qualities that it cannot provide. Politicians can conjure an exalted vision of a prosperous, healthy, free society, but no government can supply the qualities of honesty, compassion, and personal responsibility that must underlie this vision.It made me think about a recent episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (don't worry I'll connect the dots) about a woman with 14 kids to take care of. I think it was the season premiere and I only saw part of the show. It was a heartbreaking situation this woman was in. Regardless of all the details, I think most would agree it was tough for the woman to raise 14 kids on her own. Add to the fact that she was trying to do it from three hotel rooms and it just gets tougher.
Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher
Watching the show, it became pretty apparent that a great deal of people new of this woman's plight. It seems quite a shame that a game show of all things has to step in to help out a family like this.
Where were all the volunteers and people that came on this show to help BEFORE they were chosen by Extreme Makeover? For some reason, it always seems to take a natural disaster of some magnitude to get neighbors to help each other.
I guess the reason the quote reminded me of this is we can't expect the government to take care of everyone. We can't expect for miracles like this game show to rescue people either. We can, I would hope, expect that a community would lend a hand where needed to help others who are struggling. Are we losing those qualities such as compassion?
2 comments:
But community does not. In most communities, neighbors barely speak. Friends rarely talk of personal struggles. And family is frequently at arm's length.
Unless real troubles ensue, and then everyone seems to find the time or the humility to come together.
I'm of two minds on this. One, there are extremely few good reasons for anyone of modest means to be caring for fourteen children. That's irresponsible. Life is not a fairy tale, and I find it hard to believe that this wasn't an entirely voluntary situation that this woman put herself into.
On the other hand, I also believe people are people and deserve the best from each other at all times - that includes government - and we shouldn't turn a blind eye when we can make a difference in someone's life.
Stories like this walk that thin line.
There is no question that putting yourself into an untenable situation like she was in could be due in large part from poor decisions.
In this situation specifically though, there are two factors:
1) 10 of the 14 kids were her sisters who died of cancer. She promised to take care of them and not let them get split up. (Say what you want about having 10 kids but it wasn't her fault.) The father I believe had left.
2) After she took on the 10 kids in addition to her own, her own husband left. (typical) Leaving her holding the bag with all the responsibility.
Regardless of what she or her sister did or the predicament she found herself in, holding back a helping hand for the kids because you don't care for the parental situation doesn't seem fair to the children. It wasn't their fault.
Either way, my point was that, in this case, it seemed a lot of "neighbors" knew what was up and while some may have helped out, it didn't seem like much was done. It took an outside influence like the show to bring them together. It seems a shame that communities can't find the ability to come together like this on their own.
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