I was reflecting on psuedo-wisdom just now. Often, I find myself listening in to a conversation on something - education, government, social ills, social interactions - and at some point I decide to chip in with my little convictions, thinking that I would add some of my "wisdom" to the conversation. More often than not, someone says something, or asks a question that immediately sets me a step or two back with the realisation that perhaps I had been a little too narrow in my thinking and perhaps had an unrealistic assumption or two in my ideal thought world.
As I thought of this, I recalled a small passage I read in "Hogfather", in which one character says, regarding her grandfather's view on the problem of poverty and starvation, that the solution to starvation was to give everyone a good meal. Another character comments that he'd look at the prevailing political situation, economics, etc etc...
... Surely, the grandfather's approach sounds so much more real and personal. Caring, if you will. And it's also a typical response that I would give. But honestly? It's also naive. Of course, if you think about it, "giving everyone a good meal" would work, in a perfect world where everyone was like-minded and caring - and willing to serve each other for free. That's the underpinning of marxist philosophy, I suppose. Sadly, the reality of the world around us demonstrates so clearly that such a vision simply doesn't work. We see selfishness everywhere - from the ceaseless crying of babies to the unending rhetoric of "I want" in childhood, to attention-whoring puberty and the to power-play and greed of adulthood. Of course, there are sparks of compassion and love, and even selfless giving at times, but this generally forms the pretty dressing to the lousy main course.
It's probably silly to think that politics is only selfishness in a more sophisticated packaging, But I can't help but think how similar the ideal christian community is to the marxist ideal. "Giving everyone a good meal" is supposed to work. "Progress" in which the rich get richer and the poor, poorer is a lie. But the taint of selfishness and insecurity - sin, basically - ensures that this is not going to happen today, or tomorrow, or at any point on this side of eternity.
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