Pubdate: Tue, 18 Jul 2000
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2000 The Province
Contact:  200 Granville Street, Ste. #1, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N3 Canada
Fax: (604) 605-2323
Website: http://www.vancouverprovince.com/
Author: Fred Ledoux

RE - DRUGGIES NOT GOV'T PROBLEM

Lisa van der Zwart reminds me of many people in our
society:

- - the hamburger munching, 2-pack-a-day smoking lard bucket who think
skiers and motorcycle riders should be forced to pay for their own
medical bills: "Why should I pay for someone's else's careless and
risky lifestyle?"

- - the well-familied, corporate executive who got all the breaks that
being the son of a rich lawyer/politician entails, who bemoans the
masses of the unemployed being paid unemployment insurance: "I have
paid UI all my life and I have never collected yet!  Why don't they
just get a job?"

- - the little rich girl (Daddy pays for everything) university student
who can't accept that some people just can't afford to go to
university, saying "If they REALLY wanted to go to university they
would find a way."

- - the triple chinned, "well rounded", crew-cut, pink leggings wearing,
250 lb bingo player who can't understand what men see in slim, fit,
attractive, personable women half her size, saying "Men should try to
get to know a woman before judging."

- - the young, single, snow boarder who doesn't think he should have to
help pay a child allowance (via taxes) to families who choose to have
kids: "Nobody subsidizes my hobby, why should I subsidize theirs (kids)?"

The point that I have been trying to make is that it is very easy to
find fault with someone else's chosen or accidental lifestyle
circumstances, when viewed through the narrow slits of our own
comfortable, protective helmets with visors down.  It is so easy that
we have all done this, and we each will repeatedly fall into this trap
of comfortable, willingly unaware, shallow summarizing and evaluating
of other people's situations.

I suggest that Lisa van der Zwart (and each of us when we eventually,
again, feel tempted to think like her) should consider the possible
mental, physical, social, economic and spiritual challenges that these
people (aka: "druggies"), have faced in their lives.  Would we have
fared much better, or much worse?

The World needs more compassion.  The insane, "me and mine only"
attitude of the neo-far-right-conservative movement will only destroy
us if allowed to grow to its ultimate conclusion.  There are a couple
of tired, old cliches that come to mind right now:  "There but for the
grace of God go I.", "Before you condemn, criticize and accuse, walk a
mile in my shoes.".  Maybe these tired old cliches have stuck around
for so long because there is a lot of truth in them.

Fred Ledoux
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek