Why do I have to pay for society's screw-ups?

[BDBoop]

Patrick's addiction is judging. Holier than thou. Straining at gnats, and swallowing camels.

I mean, he's here. Trolling. How mentally well can he be?

 

[Patrick2]

I'm not expecting to affect your position of intolerance by relating my experiences. Ex smokers, people who've lost alot of weight, etc....tend to be the least tolerant of others who still smoke or are obese. A healthy attitude is one of compassion and understanding for those who share your shortcomings if you have overcome them.

As for privilieged middle class people who have shortcomings...the percentage of people who can't quit drugs/alchohol, or lose weight, is spread evenly amongst the socioeconomic classes. While I applaud your staying in school and working hard, I don't think it's a good reson to be so judgemental. If anything...because it's not Christian.

I dealt with a thousand people who didn't understand the mind of people who can't lose weight, or quit substance abuse, during my years of counseling. Judgemental relatives. Non addicts/alchoholics. New doctors and nurses who hadn't had experience with addicts/alchoholics. I'm not trying to belittle you, or assert you're not smart enough to grasp what I do. It's just that if you were able to resist drugs after starting to use, and not let it make you powerless over your life....you shouldn't be expected to understand how some people just can't be like you.

The world ain't perfect....never will be....and it sounds like you're putting down everyone who isn't. I'm a hard sell in trying to make me believe that some people, who are not like you, have experienced environments and physiologies that make being perfect infinitly harder than it was for you.

Like I implied, I overcame lots of king-sized difficulties, all of which as I said I don't want to go into. But to just give you a clue, after my older brother told his shrink the basic history of himself and his three siblings growing up, she shook her head and said "it's a wonder that all four of you didn't wind up dead, in prison, or in an insane asylum".

Think about that.

Yes, the world is imperfect - I'm the LAST one who will argue against that. Inspite of that, people need to carry on, improve their position, overcome obstacles, and not be a burden to others. The only addiction I really ever had was smoking. I had a pack a day habit when I was in my 20s, which when I was studying for General Exams in grad school morphed into a three pack a day habit. After Generals, I went cold turkey. Nobody who hasn't been in that exact situation can grasp what that means in terms of sheer, raw will power, but I permanently quit. (And you're right, I DID for a short while have all the self-righteousness of the reformed sinner. )

My bottom line is that I >>KNOW<< the sheer effort I've put into overcoming the imperfections of life, and I expect at least HALF of that, or 10% of that, from others.

It's just too bad you're preocupied with judging those who lacked the amount of determination you have. That can't be fun to think that way.

I think almost EVERYONE is capable of more than they think, and people in social services at least OCCASIONALLY should convey that idea to them.

 

[toxicmedia]

Like I implied, I overcame lots of king-sized difficulties, all of which as I said I don't want to go into. But to just give you a clue, after my older brother told his shrink the basic history of himself and his three siblings growing up, she shook her head and said "it's a wonder that all four of you didn't wind up dead, in prison, or in an insane asylum".

Think about that.

Yes, the world is imperfect - I'm the LAST one who will argue against that. Inspite of that, people need to carry on, improve their position, overcome obstacles, and not be a burden to others. The only addiction I really ever had was smoking. I had a pack a day habit when I was in my 20s, which when I was studying for General Exams in grad school morphed into a three pack a day habit. After Generals, I went cold turkey. Nobody who hasn't been in that exact situation can grasp what that means in terms of sheer, raw will power, but I permanently quit. (And you're right, I DID for a short while have all the self-righteousness of the reformed sinner. )

My bottom line is that I >>KNOW<< the sheer effort I've put into overcoming the imperfections of life, and I expect at least HALF of that, or 10% of that, from others.

It's just too bad you're preocupied with judging those who lacked the amount of determination you have. That can't be fun to think that way.

I think almost EVERYONE is capable of more than they think, and people in social services at least OCCASIONALLY should convey that idea to them.

All those years of counseling...it was volunteer work for county social services.

Assuming that anyone is capable of more, is setting yourself up to be resentful if you expect everyone to be capable of more.

I've seen miraculous behavior changes from people who'd been given up on by their family, and the system. What one needs to do to keep a healthy attitude amongst all the madness, is to simply be grateful for the miracles. Dwelling on, or creating expectations that haven't been met yet is something I won't do. It's not helpful to anyone.

Once again....don't get me wrong. I think your story is great. There is always the need for people to share what they did, like you, to escape dangerous environments. Big Brothers, etc....

 

[jgarden]

The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, &#8220;Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?&#8221;
26 He said to him, &#8220;What is written in the Law? How do you read it?&#8221;
27 And he answered, &#8220;You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.&#8221;
28 And he said to him, &#8220;You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.&#8221;
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, &#8220;And who is my neighbor?&#8221;
30 Jesus replied, &#8220;A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, &#8216;Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.&#8217;
36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?&#8221;
37 He said, &#8220;The one who showed him mercy.&#8221; And Jesus said to him, &#8220;You go, and do likewise.&#8221;

"Why do I have to pay for society's screw-ups?" - The OP argues that we should all respond like the PRIEST and the LEVITE, and pass by society's "screwups" (the "half-dead" Jew) on the other side of the road.

Unlike the priest and the Levite, who were both fellow Jews, the Samaritan belonged to a religious sect that held deep anamosity toward the Jews (and visa versa) and was the last of the three that one would expect to show compassion.

Nor did the Samaritan attempt to rationalize that because the Jew had made some bad decisions in life he deserved to be left at the side of the road.

For the purposes of this discussion, is government (We the People) content to be a group of PRIESTS and LEVITES, or are we to demonstrate collective "LOVE of NEIGHBOR" by showing MERCY towards fellow Americans on the side of the road?

 

[Patrick2]

The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

"Why do I have to pay for society's screw-ups?" - The OP argues that we should all respond like the PRIEST and the LEVITE, and pass by society's "screwups" (the "half-dead" Jew) on the other side of the road.

Unlike the priest and the Levite, who were both fellow Jews, the Samaritan belonged to a religious sect that held deep anamosity toward the Jews (and visa versa) and was the last of the three that one would expect to show compassion.

Nor did the Samaritan attempt to rationalize that because the Jew had made some bad decisions in life he deserved to be left at the side of the road.

For the purposes of this discussion, is government (We the People) content to be a group of PRIESTS and LEVITES, or are we to demonstrate collective "LOVE of NEIGHBOR" by showing MERCY towards fellow Americans on the side of the road?

Cool your jets, preacher.

I certainly haven't argued against mercy or charity, but rather against having to sign a blank check to pay for all the people who needlessly and irresponsibly trash their health, and indirectly, provide an entree for leftwing statists like obama.

 

[Flopper]

One problem I can think of with this approach is that many symptoms are ambiguous - they may represent a trivial condition or a very serious one, and only tests can tell the difference.

That's true but that's why we have doctors. They assess the likelihood of a set of symptoms being a serious problem. Given time the body usually heals itself. If it doesn't then diagnostic tests are called for. You can't do a CT Scan for every patient with a cough or a cranial MRI for every headache.

That bears on one of the real problems of the US medical system - defensive medicine. Doctors prescribe more tests to protect themselves from predatory tort lawyers.

Although I'm in favor of tort reform, I don't see it having a big impact on defensive medicine. Even if limits were lower to a hundred thousand, the doctors that practice defensive medicine would still do so. The major effect of tort reform would be to reduce malpractice insurance rates. A lot of what some people call defensive medicine is considered by others to be good medical practices.