Dear Editor:
“SOCIALISM is GOOD” has been a discussion held in the Letters section of this newspaper, and it has opened up another line of inquiry. Technology has enabled people to reach way back in their Ancestry, in an attempt to discover where we came from, and what kind of people shaped our beliefs.
In particular, I believe I’ve discovered an ancestor of a neighbor and letter writer, based on behavior and notions, that might enable a connection to a relative living over 2000 years ago, when a fellow named Jesus was sharing with us how we should act towards our fellow man. Of course, at the time, Jesus had His detractors, and we will refer to His main detractor as ‘Citizen X’ who was always there to “correct” Jesus’ incorrect notions.
Citizen X came upon Jesus feeding thousands with just a few loaves and fishes. Citizen X was disgusted, and scolded Jesus, saying, “You are destroying these people’s self-reliance! What you’re doing is BAD, BAD, BAD!”
Citizen X came upon Jesus healing the sick and giving sight to the blind. Citizen X was outraged, and lashed out at Jesus, saying, “You’re setting yourself up as the paternalistic problem solver who can manage these people’s affairs better than they can on their own. Why would you destroy their ambition to be independent?”
Citizen X next noticed Jesus washing one of his disciples’ feet; Citizen X was offended, and lectured Jesus, “You are humbling yourself, and this shows WEAKNESS. You should NEVER show weakness, because this is simply WRONG. If you don’t always show strength and dominance, people will take advantage of you!”
Citizen X was most perplexed when he witnessed Jesus going to the house of Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector (and collector of tariffs) and was very wealthy. At first, Citizen X thought, FINALLY, Jesus was recognizing that the wealthy are the job creators, and that Jesus would promote Zacchaeus’ strong WORK ETHIC. Unfortunately, Citizen X heard Zacchaeus declare, “I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount!” Citizen X was horrified that Jesus had turned Zacchaeus “WOKE.”
With these few examples, we see that there are two major world views that have been in conflict since the beginning of time. One world view is that we are our brothers’ keepers, and we should treat others as we would like to be treated. The other world view, that of Citizen X, has the notion that helping people actually harms them more, in terms of destroying work ethic, ambition, and self-reliance. The great advantage of this latter world view is that it calls on the individual to do NOTHING AT ALL to help anyone EVER, so it’s perfect for greedy folk who have no empathy.
The main drawback to this preaching of “self-reliance” is that the Citizen X of every generation has to expend lots of time and effort combatting those who WOULD help others, heaping shame and disgust and harsh judgment upon them – “wrong thinking, patently false, drivel, rubbish.” There’s a fear that kindness will spread if not constantly stomped out. Citizen X has many descendants.
Jeff Harrison
Buffalo TX
