GIVING – NOT TAKING, BALANCES THE BOOKS OF MORAL INSOLVENCY
Sunday, February 28, 2021 - daily column #6682
Counties don’t go bankrupt; they print more money.
It’s called deficit spending.
Don’t try this at home, or your banker won’t be happy with you …
Societies don’t run on cash, but there is moral solvency that connects us from heart-to-heart, human to human, humanity unto man.
Oh man, we’ve got it wrong, but we can make it better.
I’m convinced it’s not about cash, it’s about how we think about each other, how we treat the stranger as well as we treat our dearest friends, and it’s about what we give, not what we take.
Curves may get bent, and too many people will be broken.
Cynics remind us we are all too busy binge-watching; entertainment/coping, almost medicinal, a great way to fall asleep.
We’ve been so busy.
Within our busy-ness, we adapt – not different from a wild species adapting to changes in its landscape.
We’re numbed by statistics, the infectious disease lexicon, graphically represented trend predictions of cases, hospitalizations, efficaciousness – and now variants.
Add constant reminders about menacing carbon, plastic, and climate change. This pace of change, worldwide, our collective actions get herded, even stampeded, by forces we scarcely understand, creating a collision of competing values and needs.
But we are part of them.
Can’t outrun this virus – but we shouldn’t rush headlong into it either.
Staying safe is essential.
Staying emotionally and intellectually alive is likely far more critical.
Sadly, many vulnerable people have been knocked flat.
Way too many are dead.
Everybody is absorbed.
So engaged.
Too busy.
Seems odd.
During a pandemic?
But I mean more than busy at school, at work, or in our businesses.
Everyone is managing their household, every interest and activity in changed ways. Many of those changes will survive and thrive long after this pandemic, like Zoom meetings, online grocery shopping, and connecting with new friends, colleagues and customers across massive distances.
Sadly, we learn, a lot of people are not coping well.
Mental health concerns, suicide, and family stress – wreaking havoc too, widespread human and fiscal impacts, far beyond those who are COVID-19 infected.
Worlds of finance, commerce, government, and every societal norm in turmoil, reinventing how they paint rosy pictures with so much red ink …
Reader feedback:
Put me in mind of an Alan Alda movie: “How’s the new novel going?” “Great! I found all the words I need in a dictionary. Now I just have to put them together.”, RH, Calgary, AB
Wishing you a successful Saturday! Looking forward to hearing how the Toastmasters speech contest went for you, JJ, Calgary, AB
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