destRuctive disdAiN deserves less

My letter to the Downtown Eastside Enquirer
(commenting on another's comment - & my words may seem a LEETLE bitchy, but wait-til-ya-see the OTHER guy! Click on above title 4 that website)

DeTonART said...

[Thank-you, Reliable Resources, 4 provoking important thoughts]

Thanks also to 'Anonymous' (above, Apr.17) for provoking ME to write what follows (as the train rounds the bend)...

To dismiss the incident of a woman who was SHOVED OUT OF A HOTEL WINDOW & KILLED with "I don't even care who committed that murder. It's one less drug user/seller to deal with" is so grossly callous & ignorant it makes Wendy Ladner-Beaudry's death doubly upsetting, all over again. WHY was this compassionate, unselfish person murdered & not someone so insufferably sure of their own superiority they "resent" the "comparison"? That such indifference toward another's life even EXISTS is an ugly indicator of the disjointed society we've ALL had a hand in creating - & can ALL lend a hand in healing...

You think you're blameless, Misc., & deserve to be spared not just the sight but the mere MENTION of distasteful things like "drugs" & "illegal" [forget about the mind-warping confusion, corruption, profiteering etc. on the part of 'legit' enforcers, lawmakers & the medical community that helped create this whack situation in the first place]? You also decree from your throne that drug users/sellers "deserve less" than they already have (which is often next to nothing, plus the added shame if they live in the DTES of a filthy, enabling, neglectful environment that offers few recovery resources)? YOU think you have the right to pronounce judgment on others, & that your "clean living" somehow makes your life worth more? I couldn't agree less...

On the contrary, I see your attitude as an all-pervasive accelerant that keeps evil discord very much alive. The ease with which you discount & judge others reveals a willful lack of compassion/humanity symptomatic of a sick heart, a closed mind & a blind eye (to your own shortcomings as well as to others' value/virtues). Unlike those on the fringes of, or rejected by, society - who get even LESS consideration/resources than you say they deserve, & who are ALL TOO AWARE of their faults/sins to the point of denying themselves, harming themselves & making themselves sick (i.e., they're about as humble as it gets) - YOU, critical commentator, as a self-claimed "straight living" citizen operating freely WITHIN society, enjoy abundant opportunities to influence your community, communicate/interact with others & be considered, heard & respected. This makes your condescension, indifference & invective an EVEN MORE POTENT MIX of negativity (justified by the arrogance/pride that closed your mind & disconnected you from your soul) - one which infects society slowly & insidiously, seeping into the collective consciousness with deceptively damaging & far-reaching consequences...

Not only, then, does your narrow-mindedness NOT contribute to or help society (i.e., add to your worth), it drains out the goodness by dumping out your demons & directing your own dissatisfaction onto the distressed/weak. Such disregard for others' feelings - for starters - doesn't help; it only hurts.

For these reasons I would estimate, Anonymous #5, that your life's worth would be calculated comparatively well into the negative numbers, since you destroy & take more than you give, & therefore have become a burden rather than a benefit. Wendy Ladner-Beaudry was beautiful & beneficial, which makes losing her that much more tragic.

I suggest you - & yes, the many like you - stop seeking targets at whom to point your critical fingers & turn instead to take hard looks in the mirror. Self-judgement is good for opening the mind & learning how not to judge - which helps if you want to be a more benevolent contributor to this life.

Wendy certainly was that. If we follow in her footsteps we might turn out O.K...

September 27, 2009 6:00 PM