Ken Allred’s commentary “Help me Understand” (Gazette, Jan. 6) deserves a response – not only in the form of a letter, but also some soul-searching by all of us.
At the heart of the problem is a reluctance or an inability to look at a situation or an idea and consider its implications. We simply do not connect all the dots; we rely on other people do the thinking for us. We need to appreciate that every decision we make has implications down the road, that every action we take has consequences for us and often for others. We must learn to accept responsibility for our decisions and actions and to live with the consequences.
We cause difficulties when we adopt a “one size fits all” approach to problems like poverty. There are multiple causes, and solutions demand different, customized approaches. Consider three families, all short of food, looking for help at the food bank. One is hungry because the breadwinner died in an accident. The second lacks food because the breadwinner lost his job. The third spent the grocery money on lottery tickets. Should we feed them? Yes, they are human beings in immediate need. But that is only part of the answer. The first family may well need ongoing support; the second needs an opportunity to work; the third needs a theoretical and practical lesson in budgeting and responsibility. Simply providing food does not solve the real problem, and doing nothing else may actually serve to make the real problem worse.
We are not really encouraged to think deeply. Advertising (both commercial and political) is designed to have us respond without recognizing or contemplating all the implications. As a consequence, we buy goods not because we have analyzed our needs but because of a suggestive presentation. We elect a government based on polished platitudes and promises that cannot possibly be fulfilled. Can analytical skills be taught in school? Perhaps, but many of our teachers lack the necessary understanding and the school systems probably fear governmental and parental backlash.
No one solution will cure all of society’s problems, but we ignore those problems at our peril. A good place to start is by acknowledging that there are multiple causes, and that differences between people necessitate different answers. Please spare me the lecture about discrimination; it is absurd to treat all people the same when their needs are different. But that is another story for another day.
Dominic Willott, St. Albert
