A friend called the current homeless situation in Melbourne “a plague”.
I was taken aback. Why
would he refer to human suffering this way?
The other side of my brain went into overdrive; Camus’ “La Peste” (the plague). I downloaded the novel and read it
again. I had the uneasy feeling that he
might have used exactly the right words.
Camus comments that man is never prepared for the disasters that
befall him. Asks his readers : are these
disasters the consequence of man going against some part of nature, or do bad
things just happen?
What is your response? Do
you blame the homeless man (the one) or society (the many)? Is it simply unfortunate or a penance for bad
choices?
Are you able to look away and
continue with your business? Do you
trust that the authorities will act? Do
you think they will assume there is nothing they can do?
Human nature stops us humans from eradicating inequality ... there is no hope of protecting all humanity from the plague... but the lack of hope cannot be a reason to do nothing.
