November 29, 2021, Grapevine- With the four-day holiday at an end, and my weeklong visit with Aram and Yunhee nearing its close, the matter of the year just entered comes into focus. The format of these blogposts will be altered, just a bit. When I change topics, within the framework of a single post, there will be boldface subtitles.

Today, in an effort to support my little family in their individual endeavours, I have fended for myself, resulting in things like checking out a podcast.

Breaking-Points This is an independent podcast site, presenting a variety of topics, within the span of an hour to one and a half hours. Their main philosophical thrust is very much my own: It is past time for elites to stop glad-handing one another, stop tossing out ideological breadcrumbs at members of the economic lower and middle classes and connect with us based on the bread and butter issues that matter most, day to day.

Individual vs. Group Support, in Building Up Communities- For some time, until three months ago, I was being solicited for individual assistance, by someone in another country, who played upon compassion, that I might fund his efforts, singly and alone. After giving a modest amount, and attempting for some time to educate him on groups that might help him, more locally, I found that he was not listening to, or accepting, my suggestions. Thus, the decision was made to cut him off, and I have so communicated this to him.

There are two factors at play here: One is the notion of individual and group empowerment, among citizens of the developing world. The worst legacy of colonialism has been, and remains, the concept that only through financing by individuals who live in Europe or North America can development projects be accomplished.

The second concept is the corollary of guilt. There is much made of the Teaching that wealth is not acceptable unless the whole community is wealthy. That has been taken out of context, quite liberally, by those who do not understand that real wealth is not fleeting, or the result of a windfall. It is something that needs to be sustainable. Pointing to something that a person has and crying out: “Not fair! Give me part of that, NOW!!” is also an outgrowth of colonialism-the “divide and rule” part.

This leads me to: What IS Owed To The Developing World– Omicron Coronavirusdisease 2019 has cast a spotlight on the practice of providing vaccine to those nations whose populace can PAY for the medicine. I understand that the present vaccines are “experimental” and that Research & Development needs a reliable cash flow, in order to be sustained. Yet, there is, at present, enough supply of vaccine to inoculate a hefty percentage of the world’s population. There is enough money in Big Pharma’s coffers to accomplish this, without mass layoffs or bankrupting the industry’s leading executives. One commentator has divided the human race into two segments for the pharmaceutical industry- The developed world as its bankroll and the developing countries as its Petri dish. Simply put: It’s time, past time, to devote humanity’s energies to building humanity’s collective immunity to the pestilences that ravage us-and will continue to do so.

Now, it’s time for me to go and exercise.