Gratitude: a burdening emotion?
What a week in politics, human and animal rights it has been. Palestinians and Israelis were calling each other terrorists among other terms of endearment. Wolves were still being hunted in the US; dolphins had been massacred in the Gulf of Mexico and other niceties in the animal kingdom came to the fore. No, this had not been an easy week for this world. And then there was NYPD officer Larry DePrimo… Humanity. Humility. Goodwill. Empathy. And most of all: simply a good person. He gave a homeless man new socks and shoes when he found him without footwear sitting next to a shoe shop in Times Square.
The dark underbelly of Ireland’s society (part 3)
This is part 3, and hopefully the last part, in what I consider my idea of what is wrong in Ireland’s society today. There is old and new heartache in its consumer culture of drugs, alcohol and having a great time. Alcohol is used and abused, but new ways of having fun have emerged with drugs like heroin, cocaine, meth and marijuana.
The dark underbelly of Ireland’s society (part 2)
(Original blog post The dark underbelly of Ireland’s society) Sadly I was not able to find the half-dressed homeless man in town this morning, so the attempt to give him some clothes and food failed. The bag with clothes is still standing here, and hopefully, I will be able to help him someday. This is the street where I have seen him beg before (Henry Street, Dublin) © Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2012. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me with appropriate and specific direction to the…
The dark underbelly of Ireland’s society
I love Ireland. Anyone who reads this blog or who knows me personally knows how much I do. Some days, however, like today, I feel ashamed for being a part of a society that lets beggars sit half-naked, without shoes, without pants in the bitter cold on one of the busiest shopping streets of Ireland (Henry Street, just off O’Connell Street). People walking past carry shopping bags of expensive stores without glancing at a man sitting there begging for money, or if they glance, they show contempt: “How dare he sit here like that?!” Perhaps this image does not fit in many people’s reality, but it doesn’t make it a lesser reality because they deny this person’s hardship. If anything, people who show contempt for someone so poor and so…