To be sure, many of us have been duly blessed. We are blessed with a capacity for focus, hard work and the health, intellect and physical stamina to persevere when what we’d really like to do is to super-size the French fries and watch another six hours of television. The debate is really nothing new. Since Ogg proved himself a better gatherer routinely bringing home more food to the cave, someone has cried foul. It isn’t fair! Ogg is not held back by my disabilities. Ogg has advantages over me. Ogg likes to work long hours in the heat of the sun. Besides those Ogg critics out there are not blessed with the capacity to get the job done. It is not their fault. They are victims to an Ogg-biased system that rewards folks gifted with a natural desire to work. How can it be fair to let those who like to work, can tolerate competition and enjoy risk have an advantage over those of us to whom such advantages were not bestowed by God, some abstract social system or generational government?
In our own nation and time, we continue to debate about the proper, moral and ethical treatment that reallocates the labor of Ogg to his brethren less equipped to toil the sun. Unlike many, I embrace a need for some societal insurance – some might call it a safety net. But does finding the balance between stealing from Ogg and starving the infirm (or even the lazy) have to be so challenging? Like most, I give to charity. And like most, I’d like to give a lot more. But I do not borrow money to give it away. Is bankruptcy the answer our innate urge to be generous? Must we eat the chicken if we can live perfectly well on the eggs?
This column was published on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 in the Current in Carmel, Current in Westfield,
Current in Fishers , and Current in Noblesville - http: //youarecurrent.com/
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