Mr. Wendel
Never let appearances or a single odd behaviour limit your estimation of someone’s intelligence. I had a fascinating chat with someone I’ve known for years but not particularly well. He sweeps the grounds at work and has been known to, let’s say salvage things from the garbage if you get my meaning.
When that was first brought to my attention I feared it was evidence of mental instability or extreme poverty but recent coverage of the freegan movement made it seem less odd. Now I always treated this fellow with the same dignity, respect, and kindness as anyone else despite what I had seen him do.
I ran into him the other day and we got to chatting about, among other things, the health care system. He mentioned how his brother was angry that Asian immigrants were putting a strain on our health care system, a dubious yet oddly popular opinion among certain demographics.
He said he disagreed. He first pointed out you have no idea about when someone immigrated just by looking at them nor can you judge their contributions or lack thereof to society so easily.
Secondly he said “if you want something to be upset about what about foreign aid that ends up in Swiss bank accounts. Even if there are lots of new immigrants putting a strain on our resources, which may or may not be the case, at least we know where the money is going. We know we’re helping fellow human beings”
Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Health care for new immigrants as foreign aid. I’m not saying it’s the best way of viewing such things but the originality of his perspective was refreshingly surprising. I have a degree in Political Science and this viewpoint never occurred to me.
But what if instead of sending money to Africa in aid that may be misappropriated by warlords we put t at money into health care and give refugee status and transportation to a certain number of displaced people? I’m not saying we should convert all aid to this model but in cases where we cannot verify the money is being spend on the people this could be an ethical alternative. It would also provide an incentive for world leaders of impoverished nations to be more open lest they loss their no-strings foreign aid.
Wouldn’t it be better than the IMF and World Bank dictating how countries operate with their conditional loans? They give the money to potential warlords or despots who agree to economic programs and policies that could be an affront if not an outright attack on the local customs and culture.
I’m not necessarily advocating this policy but I believe it merits attention and further thought, study, and/or investigation.
All this from a man who eats from the garbage.
