We didn't ask why - we didn't blame - when it came down to it we stood togehter

[The Straight Story]

9/11, Tsunami in 2004/5, Haiti, Chile, etc.

There was no argument, there was only need.

Lives lost, buildings crumbled, people homeless, injured folks needing care.

Time after time I have seen both the right and the left (not politicians, talking people here) come together to help others.

For but a moment we forgot politics and pulled together to help one another.

It is the same message I often hear around the holidays.

How is it that we lose that same message each day now? So many here (and elsewhere) are suffering and need help and yet we get bogged down in the stupid stuff.

Do you think the poor are that way by choice? Do you think those without health care want to be without it? Do you think those without a job want to be unemployed? Are the homeless that way because they desire to be so?

Those suffering from depression - do you think they want that? How about those disabled and unable to work?

There are big tragedies that capture our news, as they should. They affect many people all at once. But there are also tragedies that affect many people that have nothing to do with the weather or wars or terrorist attacks - and they affect many more people each day than the things which make our news cycles.

Maybe because they are not spectacular. They did not involve crashes, wars, earthquakes, etc. But they still exist.

Our news, and our politicians, ignore these things because they don't involve rapidly evolving situations. Which is a shame.

Your slow suffering? It is ok, it only matters when it is something that the news can cover as it unfolds - like a car chase.

No wonder so many are disillusioned.

[Ozymanithrax]

1. Very passionate, but there are many here in the U.S. of A that believe exactly those things.

For them, it is an article of faith that the poor are poor by choice, that they are just lazy.

Before about 1948 it was a majority view. The arguments for low wages was that the poor were stupid and would just spend it on drink and loose women. It was considered immoral to give the poor a wage higher than minimum survival.

They believe all that stuff.

They still believe that they are kind, generous human beings, also.

[laughingliberal]

2. K & R nt

[RKP5637]

3. If we had "real" news that captured many elements of life affecting us it could be

far different in terms of awareness, but sadly the media for the most part only focuses on what sells advertising time and high ratings. I don't think the media likes holding a mirror up to America to reflect what goes on in many spectrums of life. For lack of a better way to say it, life in American tends to be glamorized and not too many want to dwell on the hardships many face in this country IMO.

Hence, I think the reality of it all is often out of sight, out of mind. And sadly I do think many feel those with hardships asked for it, that is, until it falls of them, and then they run screaming switching sides, now wanting help. This is not a holistic society. Capitalism tends to pit one against another and drive greed and selfishness IMO.

[ChicagoSuz219]

4. Excellent! If I could 'fan' you, I would. n/t