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25 Sep 02 - 04:10 PM (#791227) Subject: When our own kith and kin do bad things From: GUEST,mg I think there are several threads moving in this direction -- the child abuse situation (and there was another awful one on Connie Chung last night), the Magdelene laundry, the pedophile priests, the "bad people" thread, the terrorist threads. We have heard in the media complaints that the Arab leaders haven't condemned the actions of their criminal elements enough; the Catholic church has sheltered horrible priests and nuns and Christian (!) brothers and mothers and fathers for a very long time; Mormons have their problems with icky men and multiple teenage brides. The question is, what do we do when our own ethnic group, religion, family even, do bad things. I think the answer is to speak out, condemn their behavior, etc. etc. It can be difficult of course. It can be naive, as I thought, (no offense) the thread was about just saying no to Saddam Hussein if you are an Iraqi right now. You will be shunned perhaps. Your family might hate you. But we still have to do it. Otherwise, and we are all to some degree in some situations, enablers of abuse. mg |
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25 Sep 02 - 04:48 PM (#791251) Subject: RE: BS: When our own kith and kin do bad things From: wysiwyg IMO, where we make a bigger difference is where we love people right in our own backyard and do what we can to raise children to do good in their lives. This can mean loving people of influence too-- I am not talking about turning one's back on what is wrong, but about taking a smart approach that can be more powerful than fighting evil with more negativity. To meet evil on its own terms takes time and energy away from that. If you look at your own life, and where you have had the greatest actual impact, it's in those places of the heart. ~Susan |