-
Not exactly. If I see a bum passed out on the street, with his last dollar bill partially hanging out of his pocket, it's my choice to take it from him or to leave him alone. Perhaps I can take it to teach him a lesson, perhaps because I simply don't like bums. Or maybe I just need one more dollar so that I can upgrade my lunch at Subway. However, it can honestly be stated that I have no need for the dollar; certainly no need that is greater than his.
I submit to you that 30% of people passing that bum on the street [[mostly men), will take that dollar from him for no other reason than greed or to satisfy the immediate impulse that they feel when they see it. "He ain't gonna use it for nothing good anyway." That, in my understanding, has nothing to do with self-preservation. It's simply wrong, no matter how you justify it.
-
Yes, it's wrong to steal from someone, which an animal will do simply for self-interest and survival, but even worse for a human not to protect and support another when they are vulnerable.
-
And we all have our faults. It's just easier to see those of others... Or should I say, it's just easier to see those of "others"?
-
It seems much easier to notice what we perceive as 'faults' in other people, rather than ourselves. Perhaps, that way, we simply recognise something within ourself, but the existence of which is denied, at least to some degree.
It would be good to think that virtues receive the same attention.
In a way, noticing faults in ourselves in the first instance, is a fault in itself.
-
Only if you are accepting of them. Perspective is remarkable. Two people can see the same man and one will call him a patriot whereas he's a terrorist in the eyes of the other.
-
Virtues and vices are only of any help to me if they offer me something I can use, to aid improvement - or, at least, to halt a decline!
A patriot, or a terrorist, are people I can do without. Too removed from my own daily routine, so making it difficult for me to identify myself with them.
-
Going back to Jerry's example above of the bum passed out in the street, I'd like to think that if I saw someone taking his last dollar bill, I'd try to stop them.
-
On most days, I would push it into his pocket along with a few more dollars.
-
Most people wouldn't do that, but very few would take his last dollar bill, or even think of doing so.
They would simply pass by.
-
We would do well to remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
-
How many people under a certain age would even know it...?
-
Christians have known that parable for two thousand years. What do they teach them in schools nowadays?
-
How to apply for benefits?
-
Why is the "Universal Credit" so called when it can only be received here on Earth?
-
You have to be dead before you receive the full benefits......
-
That's a cunning little ploy, and no more than I would expect from this Government.
-
I'm not at all clear on why, when I receive the current national pension on my 65th at this time next year, someone born just a couple of years later will, on the due date, receive the 'new' one, with the additional benefit of over £100 each month....
-
It may be worth a trip to your local Citizens Advice Bureau to make sure you receive all your legal entitlements.
-
I had a financial adviser to do that for me, but he became bankrupt.
-
That could never happen to R&B. He has all those liquid assets.
-
-
Does he ever take the corks out?
-
They pop all the time, without his permission.
-
No chance it'll evaporate before he drinks it. Maybe it'll evaporate out of his pores...
-
He could wake up one morning, finding a group of people avidly licking him.
-
-
We'll just have to assume Arr&bee will agree....
-
Well you guys got a little existential for a moment, but good to see you back in the groove....Amazing thread...
-
Deep thoughts are 25¢ a dozen in this thread, Ralph. And I'm about five dollars in the hole...
-
If you have thoughts to spend, this place never closes....!
-
Sometimes I can't afford anything that I see and can only browse. Deep thoughts are like a pocket full of change. Until you pull them out, you don't know if they're silver dollars or just a bunch of pennies. Fortunately, there's always someone nearby who is willing to share some of their own.
-
I write mine down, on paper, or on SDF [[!) as they come along, generally unexpected.
As long as I do something with them quickly, they don't clutter my mind too much - which, of course, simply encourages yet more thoughts....
-
These threads are the closest that I come to conversations with someone outside of my family or close circle. It's a good outlet to express myself in a manner that may not be off-putting to someone that I care about.
-
Yes, me too. I 'lurked' for quite some time,then began to contribute when the forum was ugraded in August 2010, and I had turned 60.
I am in my natural element here, being given to expressing myself even more with use of the written word, rather than the spoken form.
SDF is an outlet, and most therapeutic. I have learned a lot from other members here, and much more about myself than I ever had realised.
-
And the same for me. I love reading the posts from members who are acquainted with some of my idols. They refer to them by their first names and give insight that I cannot find somewhere else.
-
It's good to have the knowledge of anything which interests us being extended, even in some small way, every single day. That prevents it from withering away....
-
I like knowing that I'm not the only one who was interested in some things. There have been songs and artists referenced on these boards that I knew about but never heard played on the radio or anybody's stereo. I'm kind of validated to find out that somebody else actually liked what I liked.
-
The sense of belonging is a very powerful one.
The proof of that is in what can happen to a person's feelings when it is removed.
-
That's why the first couple of weeks at a new school can be troublesome for some. Especially when the big fish at a former school realizes that his/her years of building their brand don't mean much in their new environment.
-
This strange thing we call life is like a huge, mischievous game of snakes and ladders.
We either accept and deal with the 'sling and arrows' as they arrive, and without notice - or become so self-protective that we miss out on many of the benefits....