2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Revolution #3 [View all]Gregorian
(23,867 posts)There must be many kinds of fear. Yes, it does feel that Bernie Sanders practices moral standards which transcend selfishness.
I used to be a roofer. One day I was called to repair a man's roof. It was raining, and I was confident that my new way of repair would work, even though it was a flat roof. Having saved him from what could have been a disaster, I charged him $500, and went on my way. I knew it was too much to charge, but I had done an important job, I thought. Five or six years later, I was checking out at a grocers. He was the checkout clerk. When he saw me he glowered. And it was no regular scorn. My repair obviously hadn't worked, and he was quite angry to see me again. The shame I feel is far greater than the money was worth.
We all fear being poor; that tomorrow we might not survive. Using someone else as the rung of a ladder is how we do it, if we don't care about others. But my example shows how that drives us apart. It is my intention to find the man some day and return his money.
There is a feeling of happiness I get when practicing generosity and kindness. I recognize this all too rare behavior in Bernie Sanders. I've heard it said that it's partly from practicing hie Jewish principles. But it's really a willingness to suppress one's own fear, and realize that one is not alone.
In my opinion, in a society where people fend for themselves, fear is rampant. I'm convinced from the examples I've seen of more civilized nations than our own, that we can organize our society to drastically reduce the competitive nature. In doing so, we also reduce the level of frustration and fear that lends to violent behavior. This is at the heart of Bernie's vision. There should never be any group left wanting for basic needs. This is so basic that until this is done, we cannot be considered civilized. Some call it a safety net, but I believe it is far more basic and simple. It's not some thing that is put in place, although without that we would never accomplish the goal of eliminating a whole group of us who cannot survive. It is a basic way of looking at other human beings. Are we in this together, or not? I would argue that the benefits of seeing each other as whole members of a society far outweighs the benefits of a few success stories from those who climbed the rungs using others shoulders to stand on.