June 5, 2025
Good afternoon,
I am reading a book called The Road To Wigan Pier by Geroge Orwell. He is famous for the two books of fiction, 1984 and Animal Farm. But this is one of nonfiction. Orwell was a political commentator and a socialist , writing mostly between the world wars. The Road to Wigan Pier is a book about high unemployment in England in the 1930’s . There were many programs for the poor and, and it was similar to today , We have all kinds of social programs to try to keep the poor just enough to be alive. Orwell points out how he was was prejudiced against what he calls the ” lower upper middle class “. They were just limping along, and his family has a bit more money/resources . Then WWII began and many people were employed, and poverty went down. That is another whole soapbox.
We have Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program here in Ontario. No one is going to get rich being on social assistance. It is not a waste of money. The government has built in many other supports for the poor and unemployed, but we have more homeless and housing is at a premium, and not affordable. Food banks are used more than ever. The rich get richer, and the poor and middle class just get by, eking out a life here in Canada, the best place in the whole world ( according to some.). What can and should we do ?
The Old Testament prophets, like Jeremiah, Ezekial and Isaiah rail against inequality but it seems to be always with us. Why can’t we build into the economic systems more sharing possibilities ? We are smart and compassionate. And now we have AI, Artificial Intelligence .We all want a fair and equal society or do we, really ? We are not all the same, and some of us are very skilled, and some of us will need help all of our lives. After thousands of years, we still have not got it right for everyone to flourish.
Praying for a fair, peaceful and equitable life in Gaza.
Fred
black and white shadows
crush humanity’s freedom
Am I complicit ?
MPL
Ponder Anew 