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It goes without saying that you and I would disgusted by mass visits by calamity tourists to gape at the collapsed dike at Wilnis - I wish I could have my way the way that poor parched dike recently had, but as you know, the phrase "What's in a name" is required to be uttered in a slightly sarcastic tone of voice -, but are you aware that it would be abnormal from an empathetic point of view if your neighbour, witnessing the collapse of your house, were to shrug his shoulders and walk away, considering that the cheering of Saint Nicholas if nothing else is regarded as crucial in the context of the average assimilation course? These are thorny issues, bearing in mind that the average intellectual spends more time affirming his status than he does practising compassion, and compassion cannot truly flourish, can it, if you cannot accept those of your fellow creatures who do not instantly meet your and my own high standards for who they are, or in any event in so far as we're collectively convinced that they're not up to something, which in times of emergency clearly presents a splendid argument. Otherwise it is useful to suppose that there is a hint of compassion to be witnessed, even if the result is totally daft. The most gratifying solution would be happily to confiscate the vehicles of those involved whereas the easiest answer would be to charge them an admission fee. Those who would still flock to the disaster area would up to a point be proof of my assumption, and this would enable me accidentally to enhance my own status as well as empathise. Which can only mean that the two aren't mutually exclusive, after all. |