Thursday, September 25, 2008

Putting things in perspective. . .

In 1960, Michael Harrington wrote, The Other America, a book that shaped the domestic policy of both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Likely time for another book like that.

There are definitely two Americas today.

Fact: Over the past 4 days at our inner city Resource Center, over 1,200 individuals stopped by seeking assistance with food, housing, utilities, transportation and other pressing needs.

Conclusion: Our economy is anything but "fundamentally sound" for these precious neighbors of ours.

Quote: "It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."
- Bono, rock star and anti-poverty activist.
(Source: The American Prospect blog as quoted in Sojourner's Sojo Mail service--mailto:service--SojoMail@sojo.net)

What might happen if we woke up, rediscovered our best values as Americans and then moved forward?

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Two thousand years ago, a Roman Senator suggested that all slaves wear white armbands to better identify them.

"No," said a wiser Senator, "If they see how many of them there are, they may revolt."

Anonymous said...

Like all great poets, Bono has a way of succinctly summing things up that really puts things in perspective. Another Bono quote that comes to mind in the context of discussing greed: "You can never get enough of what you don't really need."