dojN000392.xml

dojN000392.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-12-21

Friday, December 21, 2001 10:05 AM
Lucky to get Anything...
Millions of people encounter death, injury and extreme hardship in the course of their existence; for most there is no fund or assistance of any kind. While these attacks are horrible and all of us feel great sympathy for the families of the lost and injured, it strikes me as the penultimate example of greed and lack of appreciation when people are complaining that they are not getting enough "charity." While I do have concerns that the funds may be distributed inequitably - the life of a well to do bond trader is not worth a penny more than the life of a janitor who worked for the same company - the fact that some people feel that funds in excess of a million dollars "is not nearly enough" to make up for the loss of a loved one is not only ludicrous, it is an insult to the memory of the person who's life was lost. As one complaining victim's family member stated to the press, "no amount of money can make up for the loss of my husband..." and no amount of mere capital ever could. Does this mean that no amount given is good enough, that the incredible generosity of the American people is looked upon by the recipients as a "not quite enough?"

Having donated to the Red Cross and the Artist's Tribute to Heroes, I now regret that I took one crumb of food from my family's mouth to help these people who feel greed when they should express nothing but thanks for the kind of financial aid the vast majority of us never get no matter how grievous or unfair the circumstances surrounding our personal misfortunes. If anything, in times of personal crisis, our government merely tends to serve as a source of more pain and suffering for victim's or their families - not the source of solace and financial support these people have the audacity to complain about. Other victims of crime and corruption should be complaining about the total sum of nothing but headaches and hassles they got versus the incredible sums of money and support the victims of September 11th are getting. This is where the unfairness lies, not in the unwarranted moaning and groaning of America's newest millionaires.

I feel great sympathy for these people, but not an iota of empathy for their public attitudes of greed and selfishness. They should be the most grateful people ever, not the loudest complainers because hundreds of millions of our dollars given in charity does not quite "measure up" in the minds of these thankless recipient's of America's good faith and resolve. They should be ashamed of themselves. It will be a long time before I give any of my family's money to any form of "victims' funds, for in the end I feel like I'm being victimized by the so-called victims themselves. What a disgrace...



Individual Comment

Fort Lauderdale, FL

2001-12-21