Emeraldlady
New member
We have the unique chance to see and appreciate the ‘common good’ principle and to see the illusion of individualism.
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HarryStotle
Guest
For certain we need to reassess priorities. We pay professional athletes and celebrities tens of millions of dollars each year without so much as a peep, but complain if a hospital administrator makes a few hundred thousand or million. Yet which position — if done effectively — is worth more to our society?
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HarryStotle
Guest
The ‘common good’ principle depends upon the goodness of individuals. It doesn’t work the other way around. The common doesn’t actually do anything for the individual because what the common does is entirely the result of the individuals constituting it.
Look at ministries in the parish. All of the successful ones function because of the individuals doing those ministries, and often those same individuals work in several ministries. The congregation, as a whole, attends, may contribute some money, but generally doesn’t get much involved.
That same picture can be projected, quite accurately onto society as a whole.
Added: The government is a kind of proxy for the common good, but often it functions to replace the efforts of the individuals on the ground doing the hard work out of goodness of heart or motive. If the government is looking after it then individuals are absolved of the need to do anything. Kind of undermines the whole idea of good intentions.
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JohnStrachan
New member
I got some great news about Covid-19… it’s Trumps Waterloo and we can all celebrate his defeat later this year. Finally a defining moment in his disasterous term as President.
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HarryStotle
Guest
Right, we ought to vote in the far left Democrat party to raise the taxes of currently stressed business, increase the federal debt by 32 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, gut the energy industry and further collapse the entire economy.
Yep, that right there will teach them deplorables to vote in a leader who attempted to build the American economy instead of further yard selling it off to the globalists, Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs, and the Chinese Communist Party.
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mythbuster1
Guest
All this social distancing is effective against influenza, too, and air pollution is down. These things may ultimately save more lives than the virus takes.
Hear hear!
I am entirely good with SSA people, who choose to reveal their affliction publicly (not sure I would do that if I were SSA, which I’m not), speaking up for celibacy and chastity and affirming their human worth in spite of being afflicted with SSA. But I think we all know that relatively few SSA people fit this paradigm. They are led to believe, by opinion leaders and the secular media, that “every itch must be scratched”, and act accordingly. Thank God for the exceptions.
Say it isn’t so!
Happy Birthday @adamhovey1988
But in all seriousness…
I am deeply sorry for anyone who has suffered loss, or will suffer loss — most of all, loss of health or even life itself — but there is some good to come of this. It is easy for me to sit back and say — neither any of my loved ones nor I have gotten sick yet, and Deo volente, we won’t — I have lost a little money on paper (markets come and go), and we may not get to take a vacation this year, but that’s about it. I am retired and have a small income that is largely immune from economic cycles. So I’m a poor one to sit back and make observations, but:
- People are probably sinning less. That tends to happen in times of crisis that demand vigilance and sacrifice.
- Life is becoming very basic. I discovered an unknown cache of hygiene products in some cabinets today, and it made my day — one less thing to fear running out of.
- We’re seeing a lot of human decency and compassion come out of this.
- We are being reminded of just how horrible it is to lose our ability to assist at Holy Mass, receive communion, or go to confession.
- Everything has slowed down. (This is, of course, absolutely no comfort to those who have lost their jobs because of the fact that everything has slowed down.) There is no rush-hour traffic. It is like an unending, attenuated Christmas in that respect.
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PennyinCanada
Guest
I suspect all the dogs have been united in prayer and boom! Everyone is home with their dogs. Prayer answered.
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ProdigalDaughter96
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PennyinCanada
Guest
Dog tired revisited. The peeps are home walking their poor pooches 10 times a day. Sounds suspiciously like weight loss time.
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jeannetherese
Guest
That’s a great article! Thank you for sharing it.
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
*snort
Please. The suits aren’t on the front lines. It’s the nurses and techs and EMTs and doctors who are bearing the brunt of this.
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Phemie
Guest
Good for the young, financially devastating for the elderly who have seen their retirement investments evaporate in a week.
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Peeps
Guest
It is individuals who have started many of the good outreaches during this crisis.
E.g., one woman in our city started sewing protective masks for health care workers, and now dozens are joining her.
E.g., I heard on the radio about a person who started stocking her “Little Library” with wholesome foods during this crisis–her story was shown on her local TV station and now lots of people in her city are doing the same thing–Great Idea!
E.g., our priest (and many others across the country) are live-streaming the Mass alone–it seems so strange to see him all alone with the Blessed Sacrament, but it is wonderful to be able to make a Spiritual Communion while he is praying the Mass!
E.g., one of our local colleges is continuing to hold rehearsals for their summer season ONLINE–wow. The director decided to try it, and it’s working–a good idea from one person that is now helping many people.
All kinds of ideas and programs started by one person, but now involving many.
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1Lord1Faith
Guest
That’s a little exaggerated. Stocks will recover most of their losses fairly quickly, leaving a small window to buy. The Dow has only lost three years of gains, most of which were fluff anyway. So, I hardly think people’s retirements have “evaporated”.
It should be the young people who are losing more. Anyone who had to contribute to their 401K in the last two years will lose more than someone who has been contributing for decades and has been retired for a couple of years already.
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Tis_Bearself
Patron
I agree, the market will bounce back when this is over. I’m certainly not liquidating everything in a recession. That doesn’t help me and it doesn’t help the country. Frankly, I consider it unpatriotic, unless you are somehow in desperate need of money.
I am more concerned for my many friends between about ages 25 and 40 who are out of work right now, maybe permanently. A whole lot of people are going to be running up their credit cards to get through this and hoping it doesn’t last more than a month or they’ll be really scrambling for cash. Most of the ones still working are employed by health care providers, nursing homes, first responders and the like, so they get to keep their jobs and keep getting paid, but are putting their health and lives at risk having to commute physically to work and then risk possible exposure.
I am more concerned for my many friends between about ages 25 and 40 who are out of work right now, maybe permanently. A whole lot of people are going to be running up their credit cards to get through this and hoping it doesn’t last more than a month or they’ll be really scrambling for cash. Most of the ones still working are employed by health care providers, nursing homes, first responders and the like, so they get to keep their jobs and keep getting paid, but are putting their health and lives at risk having to commute physically to work and then risk possible exposure.
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JoeFreedom
New member
This is where I would disagree. For the few of us that have been saying that all of the efforts that have been and are being done could realistically have bigger impacts now and in the future. For example, many charity organizations are completely shut down. Some of these organizations like Feed My Starving Children, that pack food for those who die from severe hunger / lack of food will not be receiving food because there is no one to pack the food and no one can travel to send the food. Thousands of people die daily because there is no food. This number will increase if it has not already. Millions of elderly will have their life savings stripped away so that when the time comes to need the money, they will not have it for potential life-saving events. I could go on and on about how we are doing so much more harm now than people think.
Major drug companies are shutting / closing down operations or on skeleton crews for many other life-saving drugs simply because there are police-orders to stay at home and violation of them is unacceptable, so there is no one to do the work to make the drugs or ship the drugs. These things do not have no impact.
It is in my opinion short-sighted for us to demand the here and now and not think about doing bigger harm and longer damage. People hail great things that we “are doing something” so we must be saving lives, but when not looked at as a whole, is detrimental.
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When the markets finally go as low as they can go, that is precisely the time to buy, and just sit back and watch your money grow faster than any CD, money market, or government securities ever could.
However, timing the markets is far from an exact science. To bowdlerize a phrase sometimes attributed to Will Rogers, stuff happens. Does it ever. Look at all the “stuff” that has happened this year. If someone could be clairvoyant enough to know precisely what is going to happen X weeks or months from now, they would never have to work another day in their lives. Life could be all about strolling the shores of the Algarve, tuning up one’s Bentley, and if I were the one doing the investing, making sure that Traditional Latin Mass apostolates in union with Rome have everything they need to make the TLM available to as many of the faithful as possible.
And as Warren Buffett says, don’t invest in anything you don’t understand.
That handsome young fellow feels exactly the way I do some days
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HarryStotle
Guest
Neither are the politicians nor military leadership on the “front lines.” I suppose expertise in those areas is unnecessary, then, because the “front lines” are all that are required to maintain any line of defence?HarryStotle:
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Please. The suits aren’t on the front lines. It’s the nurses and techs and EMTs and doctors who are bearing the brunt of this.
I am not arguing suits vs front lines, so your objection is a red herring. I was arguing the relative value of celebrities and sports professionals vs hospital administrators.
If you wish to make the case that the front line staff are of more value in the long run than they are currently being remunerated, I would agree. That is not to admit that administrators are insignificant or without value. That would be an error of judgement. A good hospital administrator, as are GOOD military leaders and politicians, is very valuable.
My argument was that a good hospital administrator is worth more to society than a sports professional or celebrity. Certainly in terms of what the current amounts being paid to each, celebrities and sports professionals earn far, far beyond their value.
Care to take up that point instead of deflect from it?
I fully agree that the nurses, techs, EMTs and doctors are bearing the brunt of this and deserve better. Perhaps scaling back the outsized amounts going to celebrities/sports pros ought to be the first consideration rather than being ignored?
Do you have any further suggestions as to positions in society that earn recompense far beyond their real worth? I would think there are quite a number of “jobs” done by people that requite them far beyond their value. One that comes to mind, for example, are executives of cosmetic companies. Jean-Paul Agon, for example, who was CEO of L’Oreal (perhaps still is) was compensated €24.5 million (£19.3 million) a year from 2013 to 2015.
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