Courageous conversations help especially if you HONESTLY consider my thoughts

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya,

 

If you are interested in discussing these questions, it would help

to read my posts and respond to what i am really saying, not

giving emotional responses that are not relevant to the

discusion.

 

All of us share sympathy for the disadvantaged and poor. This

has very little to do with discussions about racism and wether or

not our government should become the institution for distributing

wealth in our society.

 

I believe people are best served by removing barriers to them

doing there own creative things with their life, without being

hindered by excessive government controls. I do not think people

thrive by being given handouts or being treated as victims.

 

Just to sum up...American society is dealing very well with

racism, especially relative to the rest of the world.

 

Prisons and the justice system are not overtly "racist " and the

implication that they are is hyperbole. People are arrrested

because they commit crimes. reform to this system is really

needed and important...but the criticism should be fair and

honest.

 

Section 8 housing benefits are not racist, and are a voluntary

benefit, as is welfare. These programs are very necessary for

the truly needy, but again have nothing to do with race.

 

In our culture, people are free to live the life they make for

themselves, people have personal responsibilty to make their

own way. This makes Seva especially important. I believe that

Seva is best done by private people, like Amma and her

charities, not governments.

 

Slogans about white privilege and the evil white corporate world

are themselves incorrect and racist. The culture of anger, blame

and finger pointing is below par thinking that seeks to divide us ,

not bring us together as a family of man. This ignorant line of

thinking is done to appeal to people's guilt and emotionality in

oder to curry political power, all of which is dishonest and

corrupt. (tamasic).

 

True understanding sees wholistically, that we are one.

Corporations are made up of people, churches and satsangs

are made up of people, governements are made of of people.

who are all just like we are. We are a work in progress. Can we

all generously help eachother find the way with out the

destructive name calling and negative emotionality?

 

 

 

 

 

Ammachi, "Ananthasree" <

ananthasree@m...> wrote:

>

>

> Namah Shivayah,

>

> Thank you, Linda, for sharing your story. I admire your honesty

and found your post to be

> a breath of fresh air. I have been reading all of these posts and

also getting very upset by

> some of the bickering and lack of compassion going on here.

There is an awful lot of

> judging going on here, which is essentially the opposite of

everything Amma teaches.

> Conversation and debate is one thing, when the goal is toward

understanding. However, it

> seems to me that this conversation has deteriorated from

innocent questioning to

> judgemental ego sparring.

>

> I, for one, am looking forward to the end of this discussion and

more threads based

> around our beloved Amma.

>

> Jai Ma,

>

> Ananthasree

>

> http://www.ammaschildren.com

>

>

> Ammachi, nierika@a... wrote:

> >

> >

> > ckeniley wrote:

> >

> > you obviously do not know how section 8 housing works.

> > Nobody forces anyone to live anywhere ....these projects

were

> > created by liberal -socialist folks who wanted to help the low

> > income people.....with section 8 people can live very very

> > inexpensively...but I agree it is a vicious cycle and should not

> > exist...but, NO oNE ForCES ANYONE TO LIVE THERE....I say

get

> > a job and pay your own rent

> >

> >

> > Dear ck ~ though I was on welfare in my early 20s and am on

social security

> > disability now, I have never lived in section 8 housing.

However, having a

> > house to me would be far preferable to living in a 30 foot

travel trailer, which

> > becomes more difficult as I become sicker with my illness. I

have worked

> > most of my life. Even as a child, in the summer I would do

summer camps for

> > younger children, partially because I loved children and

partially to have some

> > money.

> >

> > I worked when I was pregnant, and then my husband and I

split up. I worked,

> > and went to school and took care of my baby, and because I

could only work a

> > little, I received welfare. As a white person on welfare I can

tell you that,

> > for me, the most important thing was knowing I had medical

coverage for

> > myself and my daughter. Welfare also paid, for a time, for my

college classes.

> > When they stopped that program, Vocational Rehabilitation

picked up most of the

> > tab, and my father helped out too, so I was able to complete

my college

> > degree.

> >

> > I never stopped working and had many different types of

jobs, working in

> > nonprofits for causes that I cared deeply about. At that point, I

was not on

> > welfare. It was only when I became too ill to work that my

doctor advised me to

> > apply for ssdi. I would work now if I could, but after an hour or

two, I'd be

> > flat on the floor. I would live in section 8 housing now except

that you have

> > to wait a long time, and I have heard that, with Bush's new

budget cuts,

> > many of these social programs will be drastically scaled

back.

> >

> > In some ways it hurts me in my heart to read something like

"get a job and

> > pay your own rent." No one person knows another's story or

why they are in the

> > circumstances they are in unless they tell you. I have shared

a lot about

> > myself with this group because I love and trust you all. But I

have not shared

> > my shame at being poor, being sick, living in a trailer and

not being able to

> > buy new shoes or clothes ... because it is embarrassing to

me, and it hurts

> > me that I am in this situation; it hurts me that there is so little

I can do

> > about it.

> >

> > So I just ask everyone, please think before you say

something about those

> > who are less fortunate. Yes there are people who scam the

system. But many more

> > are helped by it. There are also doctors, hospitals, landlords,

etc., who

> > scam the system too. I recently received a huge bill for some

medical tests.

> > Shortly thereafter, I received my Medicare "statement."

Medicare sends a

> > statement for everything that gets billed in a person's name.

On the Medicare

> > statement, it said, "you are not required to pay this bill." I

also have had a

> > therapist, who I still talk with every other week, who has

never charged me any

> > copay at all.

> > I bless his generous heart. I guess I am saying you can't tell

everything

> > just by looking at a person or his/her circumstances. Jai Ma

~ Linda

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

>

> I believe people are best served by removing

> barriers to them

> doing there own creative things with their life,

> without being

> hindered by excessive government controls. I do not

> think people

> thrive by being given handouts or being treated as

> victims.

 

Good to know that there is another libertarian (or

libertarian-conservative) on this list.. I also

believe in personal responsibility and

self-determination rather than government handouts and

social programs.

 

>

> I

> believe that

> Seva is best done by private people, like Amma and

> her

> charities, not governments.

 

 

moi aussi.. just think of 12/26.. the pathetic efforts

of the Marxist-dominated Kerala government compared to

Amma's tsunami relief operations.

 

 

Keval