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Thought for the day

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"I have many friends both at work and play but no one at home to do nothing with", she said.
 
Look how long he is I would hate to have to wait from him..
 
"... everyday I wake it is dark, nothing but darkness", UK police officer who was blinded by gun fire and later committed suicide.
 
Contrary to many figures, about 380,000 people died yesterday, 21,000 were children and 12,000 people starved to death.
We are shocked in first world countries when a few die tragically here, but when many die in so called lesser domains we are not. Is it because we think them more like animals and therefore they do not feel the same?
 

I wouldn't make that conclusion. I think it is because we do not relate to unknown far away people with culturally different backgrounds as much as to people closer to home that we know and are culturally similar to us. I think it is more to do with the bonds between us and those that die.

These bonds are strongest between immediate family members and close friends, and then get weaker as we consider other relatives, casual friends, people we work with, people we know just to see, people who we may not know but whose deaths affect people we know, people from our home town, our country, our neighbouring country, people who are similar to us or who live in societies similar to ours, etc. etc until we get to people we have little in common with whatsoever. I think this is just as we would expect and is probably explained by evolutionary theory in some way.

It is a gradual scale and to imply that we have no empathy with those who have the least in common with us because we think they are not human, would be to imply that we regard those others on the scale as somewhere between us and being not human. In other words we see them as less human than us. But we cry at the death of a friend, but not at the death of someone we barely know from our home town, not because we think they are less human than us, but because the bonds are not as strong between us.

If someone from Africa were to live near me and I got to know that person as a friend, I would be very much affected by that person's death. Yet if he had died in Africa without me every knowing him, then his death to me is just another statistic, as they say. Charities try to create a bond between a potential donor and the eventual recipient as that way they are more likely to get a contribution. Sponsor a child is a good example. Look at the Koni video that went viral a few weeks ago. Watching the video created a bond between the viewer and the child soldier who was featured. This cause people to react about the circumstances of those children in a way that they hadn't previously.
 
bellenuit; an excellent response and I suppose only those who see themselves as superior to others could see it differently.
I remember watching the UK's 'Upstairs, Downstairs' television series in the 1990s that featured life in the house of a Lord in the 1900 - 1930 period. The Lady of the house when hearing of a disaster befalling common workers said, "They of course do not feel it the same way one does".
 
Bumper sticker of the year:
'If you can read this, thank a teacher -
and, since it's in English, thank a soldier'
 
In life, how ever lowly it may seem, always do your work as well as you possibly can with respect, fortitude, gladness and be a mentor always.
With this, what ever it is you do, to the highest point in your land, carry on the same with respect, fortitude, gladness and being so much the free mentor always.
Your end will come as it must, so carry it with you to the great beyond.
by noi
 

That's beautiful, Noirua. You've inspired me to come up with a more appropriate one for our Prime Minister:

"GO DOWN WITH A DOG, COME UP WITH FLEAS!!"
 
You can lead a horse to water,
But you cannot make him drink.
You can lead an ass to Uni,
But you cannot make him think.
 
Never be insulting to those who endeavor to help you when you do not need help. For when you need it they may not be there.
 
Thinking of those who have perished or lost everything and my feelings of sad hopelessness in being able to do little about the destruction of nature brought at this time on our fellow Australians.

And to those willing and able to help in any way
 
Why do these Macaque monkeys look so sad...because they got a bad break. With a slight modification to their generic make-up they could have ruled the world..

 
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