Blogger's note: The following contrast is extreme. I did not write it myself. I would like to give credit where it's due, but it was sent to me in an email. If you know to whom credit is due, let me know. Follows is the story of The Ant and the Grasshopper: CLASSIC VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold. THE CANADIAN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. So far, so good, eh? The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate, like him, are cold and starving. The CBC shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper, with cuts to a video of the ant in his comfortable warm home with a table laden with food. Canadians are stunned that in a ountry of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so while others have plenty. The NDP, the CAW and the Coalition Against Poverty demonstrate in front of the ant's house. The CBC, interrupting an Inuit cultural festival special from Nunavut with breaking news, broadcasts them singing "We Shall Overcome." Jack Layton grants in an interview with Mike Duffy that the ant has gotten rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share". In response to polls, the Liberal Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper Anti-Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant's taxes are reassessed, and he is also fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as helpers. Without enough money to pay both the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. The ant moves to the US and starts a successful agribiz company. The CBC later shows the now fat grasshopper finishing up the last of the ant's food, though spring is still months away, while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain it. Inadequate government funding is blamed, Bob Rae is appointed to head a commission of enquiry that will cost $10,000,000. The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug overdose, the Toronto Star blames it on the obvious failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity. The abandoned house is taken over by a gang of immigrant spiders, praised by the government for enriching Canada's multicultural diversity, who promptly set up a marijuana grow op and terrorize the community. THE END Blogger's note: I don't agree that laziness should be punished with death, but I think this parable does a good job of showing that circumstances are often self inflicted (though, entirely within the sovereign providence of God).
Saturday, April 4, 2009
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2 comments:
Hey Pete,
I wonder if you'll be surprised that I agree that the welfare system in Canada is flawed, given human nature. I was just talking with my co-worker today and we were both agreeing that you can't just give money to the "grasshoppers" of the country, which is partly why I never just give money to homeless people but instead prefer to buy them food.
Still, I think we can't throw welfare completely out the window. I'm of the opinion that the government should give money to shelters, orphanages and other programs that have the means to properly distribute the funds. I've talked to people on disability as well, and I think most would say that the current system doesn't encourage people to work since it claws back funds. I guess technically that should be fine, but when you get more money on disability than you do while working, that doesn't encourage diligence, I don't think.
At the same time, being in the leadership class with P.Dan has made me think more about the role of the church in this, because it's true that in Canada we tend to think of giving in terms of programs rather than just giving. I'm not sure how we can remedy that. I do think we need to show people love and to try and communicate God's love to them to allow the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts and change them, and I don't think we can do that by just leaving the "grasshoppers" out to dry, even if they are messed up. Just my rambling thoughts! -K
P.S. I don't appreciate being referred to as an immigrant spider who starts up grow-ops =P I think I'm maybe more like an imported helper species that's contributing to the country's ecosystem.
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