Injustice is the Problem.

Amended January 31, 2020

I am no soothsayer nor do I have special access to any particular research but I do, sincerely, believe that what follows is true and applies, and has applied, for all peoples for all times.

I ask the question - "isn't their just one species of human? Homo Sapiens? Isn't the fact that different languages are spoken; that people have different coloured skins; that people worship (presumably) the same God in different ways; isn't all this dependent of where they were born?" 

And another question - "did anyone have a choice about where they were born or who their parents were?"

Where there is prejudice; where there is discrimination based on the colour of a person skin; where there is great inequality in the distribution of wealth between the very rich and the very poor; where  access to good health facilities and health care is determined by the amount of money they spend; where there is a perception that how any individual worships God matters to others; where justice is denied; where the concept takes hold that “profit” has precedence over “people”; where access to high quality education is limited or non-existent; where there are limited or non-existent employment opportunities; where there is corruption or a perception that the wealthy can bend the rules and “get off lightly”, the prospect of social unrest will inevitably arise.

This is the root cause of the current problems in the USA, in Europe, in the Middle East in Brazil and other South American countries, and unfortunately – for future peace prospects – in China and Russia, though both are struggling to contain the unrest.

Australia, Canada and other so called “Western” countries are not immune!

I just hope that ideology will be set aside and that statesmanship and commonsense will prevail. Both of which I might add, are notably absent today!

I'm not going to hold my breath!

There is  a speech by Frederick Douglass (African American, a former slave, social reformer, orator and statesman) on the 24^th anniversary of emancipation, Washington, DC, 1886, which has great relevance today, and I quote:- 

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” (From “Spirit Level” by Wilkinson and Pickett)

Wall St Road Kill

Why do I get the feeling that America has lost something during the last two weeks of financial carnage? Something that will take a long time to regain and that is the “Moral High Ground”. The American moral high ground has not been very high for some years now (think Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and not being bound by the World Court decisions), but the last few days, to me as an interested and concerned outsider, has seen the US of A become another Wall St road kill victim.

The last thing I want to do is to seem sanctimonious or “holier than thou”, but if you forget people, and ignore humanity, in the broadest sense, then sometime down the line you are going to cop a hiding. If you ever think that you are better than anyone else, or know better, or put money or possessions before the welfare and well being of human beings, you might as well light a fuse – put a match to the blue paper and commend yourself to your ancestors. Ignore humanity, forget about people and something unpleasant is going to happen to you. It is just a matter of when. Dealing with people is about ethics, about building trust, about treating people the way you would like to be treated. Ethics is not a disposable item to be used only when deemed expedient.

People used to be taught from the fables and myths of the past. Not many read Aesop any more – more is the pity. Read this one, there is a lesson in it somewhere:

Aesop’s fable (CIV)

The goose with the golden eggs

Their was once a man who was lucky enough to own a goose that laid him a golden egg every day. However, since the process was so slow and since he wanted the entire treasure at once, he became dissatisfied and eventually killed the goose. After cutting her open, he found her to be just what any other goose would be.

The more you want the more you stand to lose