What A Man Must Be

"What a man can be, he must be." - Abraham Maslow

Whenever I taught Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I also taught my students about Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, his theory of developmental psychology which posits that the final stage of development, self-actualization (the realization of our full potential), can be achieved only after all of our other needs have been met. It is a process that Shelley's amazingly articulate and introspective creature undertakes.

Those who control our broken world, I suspect, have a vested interest in inhibiting the achievement of self-actualization. By keeping wages low, cultivating resentments that keep us sniping at each other (eg. anti-unionism), and empowering oligarchical governments that ensure daily life is a struggle for so many, corporations, in their pursuit of profits at any price, leave a debris field of social, economic and environmental problems in their wake for others to worry about.

It is easy to become discouraged and cynical in such an environment, easy to forget that there is another dimension entirely to our existences, a dimension where the primacy of the self gives way to concern for the other. This broken world abounds with such examples, and every so often we need to be reminded of that fact.

That is why I was pleased to read a story in yesterday's Star by Catherine Porter about actor Sean Penn's ongoing direct and very personal involvement in the rebuilding efforts still underway in Haiti almost three years after its devastating earthquake.

A man who 'has it all' by Hollywood standards, Penn seems to have abandoned that comfortable life to work virtually full-time to help the island nation through the Jenkins/Penn Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO) which he formed with funding from Californian philanthropist Diana Jenkins. Hard-headed, pragmatic, and clearly not afraid of hard physical work, Penn understands that the rebuilding process will take many years, and uses a project-based approach to ensure tangible results, including

... two community health clinics, a bakery and, Penn’s favourite, a community centre. “Any day, you can see 50 kids taking judo classes and dance classes while adults are taking computer classes. It’s community, volunteer driven. We staff two supervisors,” he says. “I’d like to see it used as a model.”

And what does Penn get out of all of this? As he explained to Catherine Porter,

“The hardship that’s here allows an individual to feel alive with a clearer lens and more honest perspective” ... “You feel your life while you are living it.”

Has Sean Penn achieved self-actualization? I don't know. But without doubt, he has found real meaning in his life. May we all be so fortunate.

Industry Self-Regulation - An Update

Yesterday I wrote a post about the plight of Ryan Harrington, the young man who, were it not for a drug called Celontin, would suffer upwards of 200 seizures a day. Because the Harper regime opted for a voluntary system instead of a law requiring companies to report drug shortages, Harrington had only a one-week supply of the drug left.

The Toronto Star today reports that his family has been able to secure a one-month supply of the drug from the U.S., no thanks to our government. Says Brigitte Harrington, Ryan's mother:

“It’s a band-aid” ... “We’ve applied another band-aid to the layer. We have not addressed the problem. We have not cleaned up the mess.”

Despite the shortage, Health Canada denied three separate applications from Harrington to acquire the drug from the U.S.

When asked why the first three requests were denied, Health Canada spokesperson Sara Lauer responded, “Initial requests … were not fulfilled because the manufacturer, ERFA, informed Health Canada the product would be on the market until December 2012 and it was working to avoid any potential back-order.”

I would like to think that our political 'leadership' has learned something from this episode, distressing in its wider implications, but experience suggests that in the battle between marketplace ideology, so beloved of the Harper regime, and the public good, we the people are pretty much on our own.

Industry 'Self-Regulation'

In a world rife with the environmental, economic and social consequences of unfettered capitalism, the term 'industry self-regulation' has always struck me as little more than a oxymoron. Examples abound of what happens when government regulatory agencies enter into what turn out to be Faustian bargains with the corporate sector, the sad case of XL Foods perhaps the one most prominent in recent memory.

Today's Star exposes yet another failure of corporate oversight as it reports on the plight of Ryan Harrington, a young man afflicted with a severe form of epilepsy that, without the proper medication, leads to upwards of 200 seizures a day. Unfortunately, he has just a seven-day supply left of the only drug that limits his episodes to three per day, Celontin. The blame for his plight must rest solely on the shoulders of Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and the ethos that her government embraces

Because she opted for voluntary instead of mandatory reporting of drug shortages by the pharmaceutical industry, Harrington faces his dire situation. This, despite the fact that Health Canada staff warned that a voluntary system would be “susceptible to bad company behaviour.”

Why is this failure to report the drug shortage so crucial in Harrington's situation? Had his family known, they could have applied for special access to the drug, which is still produced in the U.S.

As is so often the case today, it is the journalistic integrity of The Toronto Star that has brought this issue to the public's attention. A followup editorial, which I hope you will take time to read, makes a compelling case for mandatory reporting:

A comprehensive, up-to-date system providing early warning of drug shortages would give hospitals, doctors and provincial health ministries a head start on finding alternatives and developing strategies for coping with what's to come. Forewarned is forearmed. So it doesn't make sense from a public health perspective to give manufacturers a penalty-free choice on whether or not to comply.

Not something those ideologues possessed of 'terminal certitude', to borrow a phrase used by Owen over at Northern Reflections, may want to hear, but nonetheless a necessary measure for the rest of us.

A Tale of Two Men

No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

- NELSON MANDELA, Autobiography

“I’ll never apologize for the United States of America. Ever. I don’t care what the facts are.”

- George H.W. Bush in 1988, after the United States shot down Flight 655, an Iranian passenger airliner, over the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 civilians aboard.

Both men were recently sidelined with serious health problems, George Bush Sr. still in hospital.

Both Mandela and Bush are of advanced years; when their time comes, who will the world mourn, the man who showed the world the power of forgiveness and reconciliation, or the unrepentant and hubristic warrior?

An Insatiable Appetite

I couldn't think of a single hole to punch in this letter-writer's logic, but then, of course, I am not part of the 1%:

Re: Bonuses at Canadian banks hit $10.3B on record profit, Dec. 11

Canada’s Big Five banks combined to report $7.8 billion in profits in the third quarter. Undoubtedly they benefited from the ongoing corporate welfare system of tax cuts, granted them by the federal government.

It seems hard to understand why the Conservatives would choose to increase already excessive bank profits through corporate tax cuts, which have eliminated funds that could have been used to reduce the need for some 900,000 people having to rely on food banks.

This pathetic situation requires a reallocation of government assistance away from the banks, to needy people who would actually spend their assistance and benefit the economy.

I wonder if those bank executives would have a more difficult time enjoying their absurd profit-based bonuses if they actually thought about how much good those lost tax revenues could have done to assist the most disadvantaged in our society.

Steve Griffiths, Meaford

To Extend A Helping Hand

Still in the throes of a Christmas dinner-induced torpor, this will be a relatively brief post related to material in today's Toronto Star dealing with microloans.

As a teacher for 30 years, I always deeply respected those students who sincerely wanted to improve their marks and were willing to do the hard work that goal entailed, as opposed to those who simply wanted to carp about their grades or tried to wheedle an improved assessment from me. In retrospect, it seems natural that, after retirement, I became involved as a volunteer editor with an organization called Kiva, which facilitates microloans to entrepreneurs in the developing world. It is a role I still enjoy to this day. For as little as a $25 loan, people throughout the world can assist those working hard to improve life for themselves and their families. Of my years as a lender, I have only had one loan default.

For those who would prefer to assist people closer to home, I learned today that there is an organization operating in the Toronto area called Access Community Capital Fund. As reported in The Star, the organization offers loans to assist budding local entrepreneurs who do not qualify for traditional loans:

“We are helping people who have no access to credit so they can build their own business and pay to send their kids to school,” says Don Inouye, chair of Access’s board of directors.

The charity provides loans of up to $10,000. But the typical amount is between $3,000 and $5,000. The money is disbursed by the Royal Bank and guaranteed by Access.

Investors earn 1 per cent on their capital, but most donate their earnings back to the charity, he says. “They don’t invest to make money. They do it to make a difference.”

I suspect that many, when contemplating the myriad problems that confront us both domestically and internationally, feel impotent. Participation as a lender in a microloan program is an empowering experience and a sure antidote to that sentiment.

Update: A Christmas Message

As a retired teacher, I am well familiar with the works of Charles Dickens. Although his literary legacy is one of predominantly lengthy works, he is probably best remembered for his shortest one, A Christmas Carol, the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, a nasty man consumed by the cost of everything but unable to recognize the value of anything. His redemption comes when he realizes the perversion of his life perspective.

Yesterday we went to Niagara on the Lake for a reading of the tale by some Shaw Festival actors who graciously invited my daughter, who has been very involved for several years in local theatre in the Hamilton-Toronto area, to be one of the narrators.

Listening to this very professional rendition, I was struck by both the simplicity and depth of Dickens' theme, one which our contemporary world seems to go to great pains to encourage us to forget. The promotion of rampant consumerism and the consequent impoverishment of both our environment and our spirit is one that cannot be sustained much longer, yet it seems to be the nature of the corporate agenda which, sadly, so many of us have become infused with, never to look beyond the next quarterly profit statement, no matter what the larger cost may be. At the same time, of course, the gulf between the haves and the have-nots widens, the underlying causes ignored while we apply only band-aid solutions like food banks and shelters, which ultimately only enable the status quo to remain intact.

In A Christmas Carol, Ebeneezer Scrooge learns before it is too late that the things of real value have little to do with things material. Would that we could learn, and take to heart, the same lesson.

UPDATE: I just got a chance to sit down with today's Star. A letter by Joy Taylor of Scarborough, along Dow Marmur's column, seem particularly appropriate reading at this time of year.