Unfair

My daughter-in-law, the distinguished educator in New Orleans, has been a constant critic of Common Core and Charter Schools, among other issues of concern. In response to some of her writing, I felt the need to share my inherent, heart-felt ache that life is unfair.

That life is unfair may seem to epitomize the obvious! Yet, it is only in lessening the gap separating those who have been fortunate enough to have access to caring parents, good education, and economic stability and those not so fortunate that we can hope for more peaceful and productive society.  Babies are generally more alike than not. The occasionally genetic mishaps strike somewhat randomly throughout the general population. Babies do not chose to be economically deprived!

My view of life is that we are inherently more alike than not. The differences in our lives seem attributed to the impact of poverty on outcomes. Families do not do well if poor. Marriages are less likely to succeed. Poor health is correlated with various aspects of poverty, e.g., inadequate and inferior food and living conditions resulting in obesity, diabetes, asthma, and other medical conditions.

Those living in segregated housing generally have less access to good schools that encourage academic achievement. People often chose communities to live because they support good educational systems. Those unable to exercise a choice are usually characterized by their own history of poverty and poor education, resulting in unrewarding jobs with poor pay.

And this is looking at only this nation. What about those born in Haiti, parts of Africa and Asia, as well as other places in the world? It seems to go on and on. There is no end to the problems associated with poverty.

No one chooses to be poor!

The worldview I have is a more equitable distribution of wealth. I support this vision both from a moral and selfish perspective.

 It is morally outrageous that the wealth of more successful people is not better shared with others. I look at my life as a gift of a series of fortunate strokes of luck. Given my early family history, it is still a mystery that I survived rather unscathed by childhood experiences. I surely do not attribute any success to my extraordinary capabilities. I was spared suffering consequences from some poor decisions and blessed by other experiences that turned out well. One could say that it was “dumb luck”. I surely was not clairvoyant, thinking strategically how best to further long term goals and objectives

My eight years studying to be a priest were less a good preparation for life than another test of survival. Our recent reunion of my priest brothers (53 years since ordination) was an opportunity to recall contemporaries now defamed because of pedophilia. Some have literally fallen off the face of the earth, i.e., no one knows what happened to them. I do not know what would have been my ultimate history if I did decide to leave on my terms. And I cannot claim that I was experienced in the business of choosing a partner in life. My choice was great in every way without giving me credit for such magnificent insight.

In short, my good fortune in my choices makes me aware of my moral obligation to share my “wealth” with others. I have consistently admired nations that used its tax system to redistribute wealth for the benefit of everyone.

But, in addition to a moral obligation arising from my common humanity with others, there is also a selfish motive. I do see wars and conflicts arising from perceived injustices rising from the maldistribution of wealth and corruption. Instead of so much spent on weapons of war, why not work with others to use economic changes that enable people to live more easily at peace. Present discussions of problems associated with immigration reminds me that such issues would never surface if people could live justly and securely where they were born. People generally migrate to survive, as did my Irish ancestors. Irish society only worked for first-born males and women who married first-born males. Migrating was a mode to survival!

Until we address the societal unfairness resulting from economic disparities, we will continue to see that poor are more likely to have poor health, less successful education, poor choices in adult relationships, less rewarding jobs, and higher probability of a shorter lifespan.

Living with Discordance!

Reading the column of Charles Blow set me thinking of the "problems" I have when I consider my views of reality. Until recent events, e.g., Trump's nomination to run for the office of the President, I was more easily able to live with the disconnect between my views and reality. However, I now must deal with the possibility of a disturbing reality not only breaking into my constructs, but into the actual world itself. I have lived all these years knowing that my views were considered as aberrant. I did find fellow travelers, but most often I realized that my views would be problematic. My conversations with many people zeroed in on more mundane topics. However, now everything could be really screwed up!

Blow's column focused on issues affecting the black community. I always found it easy to identify with the black and other minority populations. I could easily vicariously experience my life under similar circumstances. It never made sense why everyone should not be able to live under conditions similar to my own. I never experienced any form of crazy discrimination. I may not have been a star athlete or a person of power in adult life, but this was because I did not have sufficient talent. (I have to consider aspects of my life as a priest as an aberration that allowed me to experience being an "outsider").

At any rate, here we are with the possibility that we may witness Donald Trump as our next president! If that were to happen, I would realize that the enough voters who hated their lot in life as a US citizen wanted someone like Trump to make their lives better. I have to admit wanting things to be better, but unlike Trump, I do not know how to make things better.

The status of my problems that Trump plans to fix makes me feel uncomfortable since I cannot deny the validity of people wanting a different world than they experience.  I too want it, but I do not have answers.

I want racial discrimination to end. I cannot understand how we can treat another based on racial identity.  At the same time, I am aware that the problems impacting the minority communities will not end until we end segregated housing. Segregated housing is inherently a force that frustrates forward movement educationally and economically.  I realize that many escape their history, but they are a minority that is hard to replicate. If I see racial discrimination as a problem that I cannot solve by a plan to end segregated housing, then I feel helpless in the face of a national choice of someone who has an answer that I violently oppose.

Any attempt to restore the historical reality of the white European ancestry that benefitted from accidents of history, e.g., economic growth with marked progress in living conditions, will ultimately be doomed. We can admire the immigrants who went from conquering virgin land to become the great farmers because of advancements in technology.  Our food production now requires few human hands (except for discriminated immigrants). We can recall the wonders of our growth in manufacturing from New England mills to Detroit factories, but know that robots now are enabling us to succeed in manufacturing. People are no longer needed as much.

I see no easy answer to the problems associated with the loss of good paying jobs for the majority. With more and more of the economy controlled by automation, I see no end to the situation. The only solution that seems reasonably available is Universal Basic Income (UBI) whereby tax dollars support a base income for everyone. Yikes! How could we afford such a new expenditure? Higher taxes may be disturbing, but to me, it is the least disturbing possibility that I can see for the foreseeable future.

The world of yesterday cannot be replicated. Scary maybe, but the reality is that even if Trump would close our borders to the Chinese economy, we could never achieve an economy relatively comparable to the experience of the past century. Closing our borders to trade will only make our economy more expensive without a commensurate growth in income.

Closing our borders with a wall separating us from Mexico while denying immigration to Muslims may appear to be a safe solution to problems associated with terrorism and drugs. However, I see this as a betrayal of our historical values without admitting that we ourselves are, at least partially, responsible for the drug and terrorist problems. There would be no problems with the transportation of drugs to this country if there were no buyers. Blaming the Mexicans for our problems will not stop the flow of drugs until the demand ceases.

Again, how I can I blame those who would vote for Trump whose wall is thought to stop the flow of drugs if I do not have a plan.  I do not see how we can stop the importing of drugs without changing the demand. I do not know of any plan to change the drug habits of our citizenry.

Similarly, terrorism is fertilized, at least partially, by our armed intrusions into the world where we make matters worse.  Our history includes the remarkable valor and success of WWII which includes the Marshall Plan of restoring the devastated European nations. But, there have been so many disasters involving Latin America, the Far East, and now the Middle East.  We inadvertently create terrorists!

Again, I do not have an answer.  While I consider war as inherently unjust, I am not a pacifist. I may identify with pacifists, but I cannot rule out the need of violence in the face of imminent harm. I identify with those who support the view that we should allow other nations to take care of their own problems. Yet, I consider it abhorrent to read about those living in Allepo!  And there are so many Allepos!  What to do? I surely disagree with Trump's plan to provide nuclear arms to South Korea and Japan.  I can understand his view that Europe and South Korea should be responsible for their own well being.  I can also understand that our support of NATO may be questionable.  But, I am not sure that the world is quite ready for our retreat.

I would advocate for a more non-interventionist policy in other countries. I would to stop "selecting" leaders, whether in Latin America, South America, or the Middle East.  But the idea of transporting "democracy" cannot be supported by history. Our experience is remarkable, but not easily duplicated! I clearly endorse a minimalist strategy, i.e., help without taking over the responsibility of other nations protecting their own interests.

In summary, people want change. People want today to be as it was yesterday. People see Trump as a vehicle for transporting ourselves to the world that no longer can exists. We live in global world where the fortunes of other nations effect us, as does our fortune effect them.