Subject: Rebuttal to the Village of 100 People Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2001 05:05:30 -0500 From: Terran Melconian <terran@consistent.org> Anyone who knows me knows I'm not very fond of most people; I think they're lazy and stupid and generally get what they deserve. Nonetheless, even I have limits, and there are some things so callous I cannot let them pass without comment. Below is my reply to the anonymous author of the infamous "Village of 100 People" email. If you somehow escaped seeing this email, let me know and I'll send you a copy of the whole thing. --- >If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, >torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in >the world. Blessed by whom? By a god who causes millions of people to be tortured to death by totalitarian regimes just so that I can feel LUCKY? No thanks. If that's being blessed, I'll pass. >If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof >overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world. ... > Pass this on, and brighten someone's day. The fact that 75% of the world does not have enough clothes and shelter to live is supposed to make me HAPPY? What sort of sadist do you take me for? Maybe YOU get your jollies by kicking wounded people and spitting on the diseased, but how do you DARE have the GALL to suggest that I am so depraved? You disgust me. Maybe most of those people are assholes. Maybe most of them are smallminded thieving bigots who deserve nothing better. In fact, they almost certainly are. Most, however, is not enough. Can you tell me that there is not one person among the FIVE HUNDRED MILLION who have been tortured, imprisoned, or starved, who is worthy? Can you tell me that there is not one person among your THREE BILLION who are oppressed who is admirable? How many brilliant ideas will I never read about, because the man who would have written them died of starvation without ever having learned to write? How many beautiful things will I never see, because the woman who would have made them was shot in the head at the age of twelve for resisting when a policeman tried to rape her? How can you explain at such length how much emptier my life will be due to the evil in the world, and then tell me to be happy, because things are not worse? Have you no shame? The fact that things could be worse is not a justification for anything. If I had no clothes, things could be worse - I could have no clothes AND no food. If I were to die tomorrow, things could be worse - I could have died last week. If I were in Hell, chained to a rock, being burned alive while hot irons were driven into my eyes and my organs were ripped out by demons, things could still be worse - I could have screws under my fingernails, too. Your position is that I should be happy because other people are worse off than I am. I reject it. NO, I say. If I am not satisfied with my own situation, should I not be even more furious that other people I consider equally admirable and worthy have it even worse? If I am unhappy because I have a toothache, should I cheer up instead of being distressed when my friend loses his legs? This is patently absurd, yet it's exactly what you're saying I should do. Some of those people who are starving and being tortured are friends I merely haven't happened to meet yet, and I refuse to take pleasure from their misfortune! The fact that things could be worse is not a sufficient reason to be satisfied. A state of affairs where someone else is getting screwed more than you are is not something to strive for. Somewhere, at some point, we must say "enough." When everyone - every last single person - has an opportunity to be educated if he wants it, that will be enough. When success is available to everyone with ability, not just those born wealthy and with good connections, that will be enough. When people who would like to steal, or torture, or kill for their religion are unable to do so, that will be enough. When I can get up in the morning, look out my window, and feel PROUD of my species and planet, instead of ashamed, that will be enough. I do not purport to know how this can be brought about, but I do know that they day I stop trying will be the day I start decomposing. Perhaps someday I shall succeed, and on that day I shall consider myself adequate. I hope to someday be adequate. Then, and not before, I will consider myself fortunate.
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