Carol T said:Bob Pastorio <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Bob Pastorio <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:>>>>>Some things are so obvious and needless to even mention that I
thought I'd just let this one go. Your answer, of course, it the "correct" one. How sad that for
Carol, there's no expression of generosity in a wish for someone else.<<<<<<<<<<<<<
You could be a blind beggar in a street and I could throw you a penny,
Blind beggar? Throw me a penny?
You do go on, and as you do it gets more vague and more serenely impenetrable. "Throwing" a
beggar a penny is how you see sincere good wishes acted upon? I'd characterize it as parsimonious
and uncaring.
Quoted message said:but what point would that be if I didn't stop to see the playing child pick it up to buy their
sweets with.
What a perfectly silly thing to say. Throw a virtually valueless coin on the street and walk on as
though something has been accomplished. How terribly aristocratic. As though responsibility ends
with that careless dropping of nothing of value, a penny.
If I wish someone a good day or a rich life or a happy experience with a new child, I'm expressing a
quality of love for them. I'm telling them that they're important to me. I'm offering love to others
as I am directed to love myself.
And you can't grasp the idea that that penny so condescendingly "thrown" isn't a good wish at all.
It's merely a gesture that has the ring of smugness and unconcern. True charity isn't merely
offering castoffs and trivial amounts of money. One might consider the wisdom of a comment I read
wherein a person was asked where they pray and the answer was "my garden." It might be considered
that good wishes are a kind of prayer made substantial.
Quoted message said:This is what a wish is like, an empty gesture made without any faith and the care we owe
to others.
Wait. Do I understand you to be saying that *only* praying for them has any validity? That anything
else is empty and meaningless? That a well-meant hug for someone in pain is pointless? That a shared
tear has no meaning? That fervently hoping that a child live a rich life is without merit?
That doing corporal acts of mercy has no value? That comforting the sick is pointless and empty?
That wishing people not to be hungry and acting to make that real is somehow bad? That giving old
and specifically-bought clothing and other goods to Goodwill and Salvation Army and other charities
is not worthwhile?
Quoted message said:Is this good enough for you Bob?
In a word, no. No, it isn't. Life can be tough for many people. Comforting and helping with their
difficulties is an important aspect of my life. I wish they could have less strife and stress and
then I do something to make that wish corporeal.
Quoted message said:I believe that you have more worth than an empty gesture from me or anyone else.
I'm saddened by your rejection of human warmth and familial or collegial affection. I'm appalled by
the coldness of your position. I'm shocked at the lack of love and any offering of it directly. I
guess that "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" isn't that important in your value
set. It is in mine.
Quoted message said:A prayer, which unlike a wish, comes with a very generous price tag.
As though there's prayer and nothing else...
Pastorio
