William Saroyan, born 1908, was a novelist dismissed as too romantic or sentimental. Critics said that his philosophy was weak and foolish.
In “The Human Comedy,” Saroyan wrote, “You must remember always to give, of everything you have. You must give foolishly even … And the more you give, the more you will have to give.”
Is that foolishness? Sentimentality? We may not be sure, but for sure, it is this. It is at the heart of the debate in American politics. It was the difference between the political parties for decades. It is a question: Do we have an obligation to one another?
What is our political position? Do we force our fellows to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps? Do we judge them as inadequate, stupid, or immoral if they are poor? Do we turn our backs and let them suffer? Or…
Do we have an obligation to one another? Are we obligated to provide a social safety net? Do we want our elderly to age with dignity or starve when they cannot “tote that barge, lift that bail”? Do we let those who cannot keep up physically or mentally lag behind, flounder, and suffer? Do we want part of our population to gorge on our plenty and leave the rest with their noses pressed against the restaurant window?
New York Times bestseller Robin Kimmerer was born in 1953. The debate continues. She advocates for the “gift economy” based on reciprocity, not an economy rooted in scarcity and competition born out of grasping and hoarding. She counsels feeling gratitude and not harming what we love.
Possibly it is about love and the ability to love: Maybe it is all about valuing people whether they are tall, short, old, young, fast, slow, rich, or poor. Or maybe The Beatles were right: “Got to be good lookin’ cuz it’s so hard to see.” Whatever it is, however difficult it may be to stop thinking the rich are smarter and more honest and not recognizing some made their money by deceit. However great the divide may become between those who want to help and those who want to take care of themselves only, this is intolerable: Why would anyone support the purposeful creation of scarcity?
Creating scarcity
They are creating scarcity. They are doing it so they can hoard. Why would anyone join in a rationalization of hacking away at the services and supports put in place to help fellow Americans? Who, for heaven’s sake, supports creating unemployment? Thousands thrown out of work in the first months of an administration—why? Who could possibly be snowed into believing that gratuitously booting thousands of Americans out of work would save money? Save money, avoid waste? Don’t be silly—the unemployment payments applied for will begin to wipe out whatever folks imagined were the savings. The loss of income taxes on the loss of income would wipe out the rest.
Who on Earth believes it is a waste to feed hungry children; provide counseling for soldiers who lay in ditches and fought for us so we could live in comfort, peace, and safety; or provide lifesaving medical treatment? What do you think the cost of lonely, hungry, angry, and disappointed people is? What form does it take?
What nitwit figured we would be safer all alone in this dangerous world? Who supported insulting our neighbors, not honoring our word to our friends, and withdrawing support from those at the mercy of bullies? The same who figure it is better to risk suffering disease and its consequences than vaccination and what consequences there may be to a prick of protection.
The same who believe they should vote to put rich people in office because they have enough so they will not be tempted to cheat or steal. Perhaps the way they got rich was by cheating and stealing and so it is habit. Do you know how Elon Musk got rich? We gave him our tax money. We worked and earned. We went into debt or did without a luxury or two in order to pay our taxes and gave our money to him. In return, he built a lousy and dangerous car and rockets that explode mid-air. In return, gratitude? Nope, in return, he is gutting our government to get some more of our money.
Our reality
I am tired—aren’t we all? We allowed this, and we must join together and stop allowing it. Yup, if we voted for Trump, we must admit we were wrong. It will only hurt our pride and only for a little while. Continue to support that decision and it will hurt for our lifetimes, and our children’s life times, and our grandchildren’s, and…
