Empathy And The "53%"

"When I feed the poor, I am called a saint. When I ask why they are poor I am called a communist."
-- Dom Helder Camara

I can remember a time as a child, being dragged by my Grandmother to church every Saturday night. I also attended Catholic school (against my will) for 14 years, so I consider myself to know a great deal about the teachings of the Catholic Church. By no means do I still practice, in fact I pretty much only attend church for funerals and the odd Baptism out of respect. I eventually reached the "age of reason" as Bill Maher once put it so succinctly, and moved on, much to the chagrin of my devout Grandmother. But what I learned and heard from my time attending mass and in religion class in school have partially shaped the person I have become. I finally reached my breaking point when I began doubting my faith, and inquiring about certain issues I had with the teachings of it. I was too young to realize that questioning authority is not acceptable, especially in religious circles, and soon found my questions dismissed as nothing more then a troublemaker trying to be funny. I genuinely had many concerns, but it was easier for the religion teacher to dismiss the questions rather then possibly question his own beliefs. I realized at that point that my curious mind would never be a good Catholic mind, clearly blind faith was something that wasn't for me. I can appreciate a lot of the teachings in the Bible, but I've never been one to believe something just because I'm told to do so. But one thing that I know Jesus taught about regularly is something that most human beings seem to be lacking in this day and age, empathy.

If you asked conservatives these days, you'd swear Jesus was a war mongering capitalist. Their idea being when Jesus said "blessed are the peacemakers" he was presumably talking about Raytheon, General Dynamics and Blackwater or xE, whatever name they are going by this week. Remember, this is a man who, according to the Bible fed the hungry, healed the sick, threw the money changers out of the temple (doesn't sound like he was very "business friendly") and even prayed for God to forgive the Roman soldiers that put him to death. Most memorable to me is this quote from the gospel of Matthew;

“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19: 23-24

And just within the past couple of years, we have seen the heavily Christian influenced right demonize Occupy Wall Street, nearly crucify Barack Obama for even mentioning universal healthcare (and being a closeted "Muslim from Kenya"), cry foul at regulatory reforms for the financial sector and now here in the true north, we have Stevie Harper and his merry band of thieves and their "we don't care if crime is at an all time low" crime bill. They claim to be Christian, but something tells me if Jesus were around today, he'd smack the shit out of these people.

Which brings me to this guy.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 53%, peruse the site if you want a reality check on just how well the wealthy have fooled some people into thinking that working 70 hours a week and still not having anything to show for it is something to be thankful for. Story after story of people who are literally working their lives away just to survive, and think it's just they way things are supposed to be, and those of us trying to change the system through protest and dissent are freeloaders just looking for a hand out. George Carlin once said, "They call it the American dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."

The paper in the picture above reads;

"I am a former Marine
I work 2 jobs
I don't have health insurance
I worked 60-70 hours per week to pay my way through college
I haven't had 4 consecutive days off in over 4 years
But I don't blame Wall Street
Suck it up you whiners 
I am the 53%
God Bless the USA"

I don't know about you, but I empathize with that guy. But these people seem to think of empathy as a weakness, not a quality to be admired in a person. The guy in the picture above for example feels that we should "suck it up" and quit blaming Wall Street. He also doesn't appear to have heard of the G.I. Bill, or the V.A. either because he claims to have worked 70 hours a week to put himself through college and has no health insurance (correct me if I'm wrong). But is this where we are as a society? And is it where we want to be? I don't want to live in a world where a former serviceman has to work 70 hours a week just to survive, while the contractors and politicians that sent him off to war make out like bandits. Not that long ago a majority of households could make it on one income, these people need two jobs just to make ends meet. Something is terribly wrong with the system. Instead of progressing, the human race appears to be moving backwards in our evolution.

And things in Canada are not much better. Last Monday, the OECD released their report stating that things are actually getting worse, not better when it comes to the disparity of income between the highest and lowest earners. The top 1% saw their share of the pie increase from 8.1% in 1980, to a staggering 13.3% in 2007. Moreover, the top .01%'s share went from 2% to 5.3% (by my rough calculation that's 3000 people, give or take). And in that time, their tax rates were also slashed by 14% and now stands at 29%. But even through all of this, the wealthy cry for more tax breaks and subsidies, using the job creator myth against us every time. But there is just one problem, they never come through on their promises to create said jobs, instead they pocket it, as we see from the figures above. In that same time frame, wages of the working class has grown at less then the rate of inflation, which means in layman's terms, we're more screwed now then we were 30 years ago.

And day after day, heartbreaking stories of the desperate creep into the news cycle buried under stories of record profits for banks and oil companies, all subsidized from the same pool of money that could have gone to stop the following before it happened. Laredo, Texas, a mother of two had been fighting with the state agency responsible for the meager food stamp allowance that is afforded to those down on their luck. The family was denied because the mother failed to furnish enough information for the bloated pig bureaucrats that run the state's ironically named "Human Services" department. When desperation set in, the woman, who allegedly had a history of mental health issues, barricaded herself in a case room with her two kids and held them hostage for nearly 7 hours. When it was all said and done, the mother and her 2 children were dead. Victims of a society that puts corporate profits and tax breaks for millionaires ahead of the well being of the least fortunate among us. God help us all.

Contrast that with this story from Seattle. You see, it wasn't enough for David Silverstein and his wife Lyudmila Shimonova for them to live in a beautiful $1.2 million dollar mansion, drive a Jaguar or vacation in Moscow or Israel or Turkey over the past 8 years. No, on top of running his own successful Chiropractic practise, these two had the nerve and unmitigated balls to collect almost $2000 per month in welfare and food stamps. This is the kind of story you should steer clear of if you want to keep you faith in humanity.

Meanwhile, on our own shores, we have a state of emergency in a Native reserve most Canadians can't pronounce, and the racist and bigoted mentality that has been engrained in the Canadian mind for generations is frothing to the surface in the message boards and coffee shop conversations all around the country as we show our true colours. We like to talk a good talk in Canada about how great we are as a people, but when situations like this arise, most of us are just as soon to blame the victim then try to look for a solution that may validate our grandiose opinion of ourselves. The ignorance and racism that dominates the discussion of Aboriginal issues in this country make me sick.

And as long as we are fighting each other for the scraps they give us instead of empathizing with our fellow human beings that are homeless, unemployed, mentally ill or addicted, the affluent win and will continue laughing all the way to the bank. We have got to overcome the divisive nature of the current debate, and I think that all of us, Christian or not could use to be a little more Christ-like. 'Tis the season, no?