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I don't know what to think...
Sep. 26th, 2008 11:27 pmNeb. lawmakers consider revising 'safe-haven' law
On the one hand...oh God I was right the first time: I don't know what to think or to say. I can think of the "easy" things to say, the stuff I thought immediately when I first read this article the other day--that people are just horrible and awful. But then you read about a man who's been out of work for years, recently lost his wife of 17 years, has many children and is just at a loss. The article points out that he didn't contact relatives for help, but his pride may have stopped him.
What am I trying to say (b/c I certainly am not trying to say I agree with the trouble Neb has found itself in)? I think I'm trying to say that a) the situation is complicated, but that it's because b) people's lives are so crazy and complicated. Have they always been? Probably in their own way. It's the nature of life to be unstable, whether for good or ill. But I feel like we--as people, Americans, Westerners, what have you--have lost a sense of community, a sense of larger family and feel very much alone. When it's all about Me and what I want and what I need, and even My Immediate Family and Our Lives, what do you do when the bottom drops out? I'm sure for some it's relatively easy to seek out help (for whatever reason, since we all live radically different lives) but if you buy into the Self-Sufficiency crap...what do you do when you can't do for yourself anymore? I'm not talking about government handouts, necessarily. Let's just start with basic resources and work up from there.
I don't know. I have no idea. I don't even pretend to have one. But clearly there's a problem in Neb that I bet isn't limited to Neb.
On the one hand...oh God I was right the first time: I don't know what to think or to say. I can think of the "easy" things to say, the stuff I thought immediately when I first read this article the other day--that people are just horrible and awful. But then you read about a man who's been out of work for years, recently lost his wife of 17 years, has many children and is just at a loss. The article points out that he didn't contact relatives for help, but his pride may have stopped him.
What am I trying to say (b/c I certainly am not trying to say I agree with the trouble Neb has found itself in)? I think I'm trying to say that a) the situation is complicated, but that it's because b) people's lives are so crazy and complicated. Have they always been? Probably in their own way. It's the nature of life to be unstable, whether for good or ill. But I feel like we--as people, Americans, Westerners, what have you--have lost a sense of community, a sense of larger family and feel very much alone. When it's all about Me and what I want and what I need, and even My Immediate Family and Our Lives, what do you do when the bottom drops out? I'm sure for some it's relatively easy to seek out help (for whatever reason, since we all live radically different lives) but if you buy into the Self-Sufficiency crap...what do you do when you can't do for yourself anymore? I'm not talking about government handouts, necessarily. Let's just start with basic resources and work up from there.
I don't know. I have no idea. I don't even pretend to have one. But clearly there's a problem in Neb that I bet isn't limited to Neb.
