While I pray that Paris remain blessedly free of these afflictions, I doubt that she is and I certainly doubt that she will so remain over the next year. This will certainly be the case for Britain and the USA. It is my experience and observation that we live our lives surrounded by suffering but that most of us avoid recognizing most of that suffering, especially that which does not happen to ourselves or those close to us. If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.
I'm not saying that it doesn't exist in Paris. Of course lots of people have AIDS in Paris. Apparently none of the people who know me well enough to tell me suffer from AIDS, that's all.
As for hunger, well, it exists I'm sure but -Paris is a rich enclave -Remember we are socialist buggers.
"Soupes populaires" are quite common -and indeed there's one near my place. So getting one meal a day is quite straightforward if you need it. In fact, my brother serves weekly at "La Chorba", an NGO that delivers meals that don't annoy any religion (they started purely for muslims as the name indicates but now it applies to all), and I wouldn't hesitate to suggest going there to anyone. It's decent food. I also give quite a lot to "food banks", when it is directed to people I don't know. Do you think that if someone I KNEW starved I wouldn't start there? Anyway, our safety nets make it less likely to suffer some of those poverty afflictions than in USA (repossessions are EXTREMELY rare). And you can get cheap food at open air markets.
"especially that which does not happen to ourselves or those close to us"
I must admit that I haven't propped up all the homeless I see in the metro. "The womb that spawned that thing is fertile yet"
I apologize if my post implied any criticism of your compassion. That was not my intent. On reflection, perhaps it is partly difference in our ages that account for your not knowing people with AIDS. We knew the couple I referred to to as neighbors in the late '80s when there still was no generally available treatment for aids, and I lived in Los Angeles where there was and is a large gay community, many of whom we knew. Your comment brought memories flooding back. Fortunately, AIDS is no longer a death sentence, and, with medical care, those with AIDS can remain symptom free indefinitely. And I certainly do not intend to criticize you for not living where there are tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, etc. But BTW, you do know someone who at least temporarily lost their home due to fire---Jerome and family!
I was struck by the fact that I had experienced most of the things you listed, and I think I got carried away with that without reflecting on how it would sound to others. I too try to help those less fortunate than I, but these days that is likely to a considerably lesser extent than you do. I am chagrined that I have thoughtlessly posted something that might be seen as a slur on your character. If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.
You have experienced those things, and I other ones: as I said I cherry picked what I had NOT experienced. Thankfully my gay friends have been spared by AIDS. Maybe Europe was better in its adoption of condoms.
And in fact, I don't think I do that much. When I look at myself and at my brother I often feel embarassed. Let's say that I will always do something when I see a need but don't make great efforts to find the people in need (and, yes, I do know people who lost their homes to a fire, and offered Jérôme to stay with us -it was impractical and it didn't happen). Actually that's a typical example: I would be willing to do things but it often does not happen.
In that respect I have a painful memory that I have difficulties forgiving myself for. There was a fire in the building across a courtyard from mine. The window of my room opens on a roof. One night I heard someone shouting from his window to call the firemen. I went but by the time I got to my phone heard a neighbour shouting that they had been called. I returned to my room and he had jumped (or slided on a pipe) on the roof -his window had been just one floor above it. First guilt there: I closed my window, and went back to watching from the kitchen to see if the firemen were coming. He kept shouting "call the firemen". After a while, with the fire having spread to the other room (the one with the window above the roof in question), I saw an arm. And THEN he said "there's my mother". By that time there was no realistic access to the window. But if I had asked whether there was someone else in the flat from the start, I reckon I could have taken my bed's mattress with his help through the window and maybe his mother would have jumped on it (the two of us could not have safely caught her in our arms -this would have been on the very edge of a roof). I could never know for sure but I have every reason to believe that she died in that fire. Maybe she WOULD have died jumping. But I didn't try anything.
I don't think I was quite the bastard that night, but I certainly was not the man I want to be.
And so we go, wishing we were doing more to help people but in fact living most of our lives amongst each other. We still think that when we have a bigger house we will volunteer to host people, like children temporarily coming to France for health reasons, or yougsters having been thrown out by their families (often for being a free mind and not willing to be forced to adopt a religion they don't believe in), or something. Yes we'll give money to some organisations sometimes, but I think that's not satisfactory. It's time and involvement that must be given. Hopefully those "we'll do it one day" will really happen. But my main wish is for society as a whole to become more altruistic. That's where the difference would truly be made. "The womb that spawned that thing is fertile yet"
