General Chat

Pity you deleted your thread Rita...it showed up what a nasty piece of work someone was.Now people who might have avoided that person, won't know what kind of man they are talking to!

As you mention the war... do you know 'we' turned away a good number of Jewish doctors, because the 'medical council' ( or its then equivalent ) vetoed it on the grounds that it would 'cost jobs'....I wonder if one of those doctors might have made the difference, have stumbled upon a cure...?


I really do not understand , sorry!, why you keep talking about 'taking them all in'...no one is suggesting that, not me, not politicians...only idiots like the BNP and the gutter press... believe them and you'll believe anything!

I too am proud of this country for many reasons, our troops, our charities, our health service, our support for those in need, both here and overseas. Our democracy and ( mostly) our legal systems,,,and our freedom of speech, right to religious, political and sexual choice.

As I do believe I made clear this is a thread about compassion generally, not to immigrants specifically..or any one group specifically... the mentally ill, the disabled, her next door who has the tv on too loud...just a general thought...even compassion for the idiot on your now deleted thread who IMO perhaps deserves compassion because he 'obviously knows no better!' :))

No Rita, we don't know if our neighbours here are poor, starved and abused ( though actually yes of course it goes on, and some of us have witnessed it haven't we) ...but that is not done by government edict is it.

We as a country have a good record for helping others in the way you suggest...we also have a bad record in storming into a lot of those countries and plundering their wealth in days of Empire ! lol

But this is the here and now, no one suggest the UK can 'feed the world' or take in its ' poor huddled masses yearning to breathe freee' I did NOT suggest it yet you imply that I have? where? Nor did I mention 'redistribution of wealth'... I said it was unevenly distributed, I believe the gap between rich and poor is widening...i do NOT think forced redistribution of wealth is a viable option, nor have i ever begrudged people who work hard spending on luxuries ( or even in fact people who don't work hard but have just been lucky!) wealth filters down, hopefully... if I had it I would be glad to give it!

What I am saying Rita is what I said on your thread...that if we want the world to be a better place, change in 'third world ' countries or the far east...or wherever, we ( the civilised(?) liberal, democratic) West have to set an example for others to follow.

TO go back to the subject of THIS thread...compassion is not just a word, it is an action...not always an easy one, I try to find 'compassion' for those who are people I have no connection with, very little empathy with, very little time for, whose opinions are so far from my own that I cannot understand how they have formed them ( nor vice versa I'm sure) ...that is a hard thing to do...sometimes I can only stretch as far as pity.

There are no 'easy' answers and there always has to be a great deal of compromise. All I can do is echo, for the most part, Rose, Kitty and Daff.

Not even able to support ourselves? Yes, we may have a crippling national debt, but we are still credit-worthy as a nation. Poverty in the UK doesn't even begin to compare with that in some countries overseas. How much 'stuff' do we all have in our houses? How much of that could be ditched and we could still survive? How much abundant choice is there in our shops and service outlets?

I want to live in a tolerant country, and I want to look behind the media headlines to the real stories. I loathe press sensationalism and knee-jerk reactions, so often bred of ignorance and suspicion.

I don't think you or I are bystanders, Rose, lol and nor could we ever be. We differ in some areas on some minor points, I expect, but fundamentally, we both care in a global and not just a local sense.

I like that part of me, very much indeed. And I like and respect it very much in other people, too ;¬))

Love

Daff xxxxx

lol Rita...was this thread about that specifically do you think? it isn't the only issue in which (IMO) compassion is the lacking commodity you know!

To use your own analogy, about the boat... the old saying in a civilised society "women and children first" ? ie those in most need saved first...yes at the risk of it being (very) hard on those more able to cope.

I have not said I have answers ( where successive brilliantly educated politicians struggle to find them!) but what I do know is that 'in relative terms' this country is not poor...the distribution of wealth may be, and is becoming , more uneven certainly.

Limits must be set to immigration....I have NEVER said differently anywhere on anyone's thread... BUT those who are in dire straits, in fear of their lives... YES I believe 'we' ( as well as all the other countries that take asylum seekers) have a moral duty to take them

I guess it comes down to "what would you give up to save somebody's life?" ...would I give up my computer, my tv, my phone, my local amenities in the short or long term ?

Would I share my food with someone starving at my door? If you knock on my door late one night fleeing from a murderer...will I keep it firmly locked and stay safe inside considering my own well being , while listening to your screams...? Or will I take the risk in the interests of compassion, and hope we both live so that one day I can say I did the 'right' thing ?

Will I ???

Where mental illness is concerned, there is way too much generalisation and lack of compassion from most of us.

As an example, Mum suffering with Alzheimers is mostly forgotten by her friends as they see no point in visiting her as she has no recognition and can't hold even a basic conversation...............yet she is the same person they valued so much 10 years ago.

A very close family member and I have no contact at all now, but I still love him to bits and always will, sadly he is too destructive a personality for me to deal with any more.

We see in the news cases of people doing horrendous things to others, yet we must never forget that there was a time when they were very much loved and probably still are, even though their actions are deplorable.

So I agree Rose, there is a lack of compassion for the person who has gone so far wrong and sweeping generalisations about a person we don't actually know should be avoided if possible.

xx

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 so on so on

The expression 'them' is, in itself, divisive.

ok then we take in all, how do we support them when we can't support ourselfs?

"Love of money..." not money in itself lol

i thought it was money?

Selfishness, they say, is the source of all evil.

Its not that long ago when Saturday morning entertainment was a good burning at the stake or hanging, then came along the Saturday matinee then swap shop, lets go back must have been much more fun. lol

The thing is, RB, that usually only happens as a result of force, and/ or over the years, but these abuses are happening NOW.... and what happens then? Oh yes, I remember now...

*what are we doing in Iraq/Bosnia/Yugoslavia/Falklands/Afghanistan*?

So.... which is it to be? Overthrow tyranny, or provide sanctuary? Me? I believe in both.

And yes, we can try to give Sanctuary to as many as really need it. We have enough of our own who emigrate to other countries... I think statistically there are more doing that than staying, and the numbers have been fairly static over the last few decades, so nothing to do with escaping this country. Except for the odd few criminals on the Costa del Sol, and elsewhere.

Love

Daff xxxx

Gill, you have not been disallowed or refused permission to post anywhere.

RB, maybe "over the centuries" ( hopefully sooner ) they WILL find a way to change...but only if the example set by more democratic 'liberal' countries is shown, only if people here ( in the West generally ) say

"We find this unacceptable and we will stand up for those who are made to suffer. It has to stop and until it does we will take the people who are in danger, because we believe we have a moral duty"

I believe I have a moral duty to help people in need ...not because I am a ( nominal) Christian...the Good Samaritan and all that...but because I am a sentient being and understand pain, and fear and despair.

mmm but i don't think we can become "SANCTUAY" for the world, they have to find a way to change, like we have over the centuries.

You got that right Rose...this board shows it so many times!

Gill whose only allowed to post on certain threads.

But if someone from a more barbaric (in some ways) culture no longer wishes to continue to be a part of the cruelty, or is hunted and treated worse than an animal, then they have the right to try to escape from that... and we have a responsibility... actually legally, not just morally... to help these people lead a life free from persecution and the threat of execution and violence. If that means giving them a new life here, then I am proud to be a part of that, and proud to welcome them into our *family*.

I mean to say, we have procedures in our schools and workplaces to deal with bullies... and tyranny is just an extreme form of bullying.

Love

Daff xxxxx

Think most peeps are very selective when it comes to “people being different” all the different cultures around the world, do’s and don’t, some you can show compassion for but others NO WAY, so each culture to its own and don’t try to understand why they do the things they do

No, compassion isn't dead and buried Rose, but sometimes it seems as though it is in short supply.


As has been said, most of the negative issues seem to stem from the media as they tend to focus on more 'bad' than 'good' stories. It can become very depressing if one allows oneself to be dragged down by it.


Sometimes people are intolerant because of their ignorance or because they feel inadequate - they don't understand and so they criticise.


However, on the bright side, I see a lot of love, compassion, kindness and humour round about me most days, and I am sure many others do too.


If we try and focus on the things which are good and true and helpful and even funny, then it helps to keep life in perspective.


Anger......? Can be destructive if not properly channelled, but there's nothing wrong with righteous indignation :))


Take care. Cx