This is part two of A Series of Short Takes, on salient issues of the day. Like most of these, this one is political and religious, though not partisan or specifically denominational, in case that difference means anything to you. You’ve been warned, either way.
Had a lengthy debate the other day with two fine ladies of my acquaintance about the Common Good. I’m going to capitalize that term, because that’s how most people sound when they cite it.
As might be obvious by now, I tend to be quite libertarian in my thinking. I really do believe that most people would be far better off if they were left the bleep alone by governments. Because “libertarian” and “conservative” get lumped together a lot, and because I engage in debate a lot, I get accused almost weekly of being heartless because I don’t think it’s a good idea for Uncle Sam to do most of the things he does. Until recently I couldn’t think of a decent rejoinder (“same to you, buddy” just wasn’t getting it done). But then we had this debate, and I understood something.
Most of the people that want government to do things – this is ESPECIALLY true of celebrities – love all mankind in the abstract but would never volunteer at a soup kitchen unless the cameras were rolling. Whereas I don’t think much of mankind in the abstract at all, but I routinely take food from my own pantry and leave it on specific doorsteps because the people inside need it more than I do.
This is not universal. There are heartless cretins on both sides of the political divide. I’m not talking, here, about abstracts at all. I’m talking about specifics. So here is my admonition: if you want to BE compassionate, to actually love all mankind (instead of being seen to do so, or pretending to), screw the Common Good. Do something for that guy right there. Anyone that talks about sacrificing for the Common Good, but has never raked his neighbor’s leaves, you can safely ignore as a hypocrite and a fraud.
Would a society populated by people that really served one another produce common good? Sure. Of course it would. But just like you can’t bake a cake just by saying “there should be a cake here,” you can’t have a good society by talking about general sacrifice. A good society is made of good people. It can’t be made of anything else. You have to have flour and sugar and eggs, and if you focus on the cake, and not on leavening your little corner, you’ll have a very sloppy cake, to extend the analogy a bit farther than it really serves.
I heard a speech recently that reminded me powerfully of this. The speaker pointed out that all the laws in the world weren’t ever going to be sufficient to stop people from being nasty to one another. There isn’t time or money to do that much policing. The only thing that will stop people from being nasty is to get rid of nasty people. And the only way to do that is to teach them to be decent. In my teaching experience – and I’ve had some – the best way to do that is to be decent your own self.
So the next time someone makes a grand pronouncement, or asks if we can’t all just get along, ask him this: who is the person you most recently served, yourself, personally? And if he can’t tell you, you’re safe to ignore him [note: this applies to the Leaders of Nations and Movements as well as to any one of us. EVERYONE you know needs help at some point, and most of them will need it right in front of you twelve times a day. There are ALWAYS opportunities to help people, EVERY DAY, no matter how grand the Work you're engaged in]. If YOU can’t answer this question, the world awaits. And boy, does it need you.
Tags: community
Posted on Tuesday, 6th October 2009 by chrisjones
Posted in Blog & News, General | Comments (1)
October 10th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I love these posts of yours.