Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Wouldn't It Be Wonderful

This poster hangs on the wall of the food shelf I have started volunteering some time at. It is visible as one walks in the door, as it hangs on the far wall. I find it poignant as well as ironic. My immediate thought was, wouldn't that be nice.

Think about what that would mean, if we truly lived in a just society. Food banks would not exist, for one thing.

I'll leave you with this quote from the CEO of a Minneapolis based medical device manufacturer, Howard Root.

"To task our corporations with the goal of fulfilling society's needs is a beautiful thought. But it would create a burden that could never be met while further damaging our competitiveness during the most challenging economic time of my life."

It is our task to determine how much longer we want to live with this as our societal model.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Sometimes I hesitate to "complain" because I certainly don't have answers. Or want to lead . I'm not coach or manager or politician material at all.

But every day I am as equally stunned at something that is beautiful ( like your farm photos) as I am by the injustice of much if not most of our lives. Wherever we may live.

Elizabeth said...

There was an article to our paper this morning about a pharmaceutical company that is being sued for Medicare fraud -- billing Medicare about five times as much for certain drugs. A small pharmacy in Florida is the whistle-blower. It made me think, again, how little power/recourse the small consumer really has and how we are being penalized and blamed for all of the ills of this economy.

Marion Williams-Bennett said...

Imagine that world. For all.

That quote sickens me, especially as it comes from some involved in medicine. Businesses need to know that HOW the be successful is just as important as being successful.

To add to what Deb said, I think we all have the right to complain and that we are part of the solution. If we all treated each other with dignity, then justice would start to unfold in small but important ways.

Thank you for volunteering at the food bank. What a learning experience. Humbling.

A.Smith said...

"Yes, the CEO of Vascular Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: VASC) sued another company for product defamation (Vascular won $3.5 million), tangled with local reporters (not me, at least not yet), and threatened not to develop any new products with Minnesota doctors if the state passed a disclosure bill (the legislation died)."

From MedCity News.

How nice to know that this man will take the gratitude and good will of everyone when he departs this place, not to speak about all the money he is hoping to gain at the expense of those who may suffer because of his explicit sense of humanity and generosity.

How blessed we are to have a legislature that knows how to bend the knee in the presence of the powerful thus sparing us from having to do it in the public square.

Onward and forward. We are finally in the promised land, the one of broken promises and superb greed.
The one where people have to beg for jobs and go without food, where children may be sleeping in a car while the oligarchy travel in their private jets.

In my heart I know there is a special circle in Hell for the likes of Howard Root CEO of Vascular Solutions Inc. I know it, the same way I know that those who don't believe in Karma are the ones who suffer the most because of what they either do or not to keep in balance with the Universe.

Good to be back.

Sandra said...

deb: we in the US are living in the middle of a disaster.

Elizabeth: overall, I have mostly given up. I still pay attention but realize this mess will play itself out no matter what I think or do. I still will write about it, as a way of releasing the pressure. I know it is not popular, but there it is.

Marion: I think all we can do is imagine it. The only way I can be civil toward the people who are engrossed in the mad hatter thinking is to not engage is conversation with them.

Hello Allegra! I am delighted to have you back. You must be feeling almost human again. We have become a nation lacking the ability to apply critical thinking, participating in our own demise, all the while following a bunch of sociopathic power mongers who are only too happy to lead us to our ruin. The way that CEO thinks has become so commonplace as to hardly raise a brow among a vast part of our population.

Missy said...

I read somewhere this week that 18 billion dollars could end world hunger for good.
18 billion is nothing compared to our national debt...

Sandra said...

Missy: consider what we could have done with the money thrown away in Iraq & Afghanistan.