fairly compensated

 I find it getting more difficult to write about positive things these days. I often have the news on in the background as I sit down to compose these postings. I hear the newscasters and my attention is diverted. It's mostly coronavirus and protesting these days. I hear snippets of stories and it is mostly gloom and doom. This morning I hear a little about some proposed legislation that would provide monetary compensation to relatives of anyone killed by police brutality. I didn't catch the details but heard it said: " that way the police won't be able to afford to kill anyone." My immediate reaction to that was, I really don't think a bad cop, with murder in his heart, is going to stop and think, oh wait, this is too expensive! I can't help but marvel at the stupidity of that remark. Really the stupidity of that proposed legislation. Well if we make criminal acts expensive, that will stop that. Punishing the criminal won't do it, make someone else pay! Well because Justice, Justice has become cash! It is a sentiment I hear all the time with the commercials on television. If you want Justice, sue them! Get the compensation you deserve! That's the message, it you aren't getting a monthly settlement or large cash award you haven't gotten justice. 

 It just seems to me that money, whether in the form of cash or entitlement is the driving force these days. Not that it hasn't always been so, it's just that more people are willing to openly admit to that.  But I just keep hearing that " compensation" is the answer to everything. Racism will be ended by compensation. You can call it reparations if that makes it sound more palatable to you, but it is compensation. The issue I have with that is the ones that deserved that compensation have long since passed. A debt owed to my father is not owed to me. That's my feeling about that. Coronavirus will be stopped by paying people to stay at home. We'll keep " essential " businesses open, allow " essential " workers to " be on the front line" but if we just pay for everyone else to shelter in place, problem solved. All it takes is that " economic " package, enough money and all is well. This virus will just disappear on its' own. Well, we will have a " vaccine " for it and then it'll be alright. Each year between 5 and 20% of the population gets the seasonal flu, with over 200,000 hospitalizations. That's acceptable, to be expected, a non-issue because, well, we have a flu shot for that. All those cases are nothing compared to what we would have if we didn't give out flu shots? Well, at least that is what we speculate anyway. no way to know for sure though, unless we went a year of two without flu shots. Amazing how that works isn't it? Don't forget, the common cold is a strain of coronavirus and we can't prevent that. But, you say, it isn't deadly. Well, maybe it was but humans have developed a resistance to it over the centuries, we don't know what the common cold did to people hundreds of years ago. But a vaccine will make someone a lot of money, maybe not this year or the next, but it won't be free forever! 

 You can call it by a number of names, socialism is one, but the goal is, everyone has the same thing. In other words, we all have the same amount of money, whether it is in cash, entitlements, property, or whatever. Everything is " fair. " Well because as long as I have everything you do, that's fair. It shouldn't make any difference how much or how little I work for that, I should get it anyway. The choices I make should have no bearing on any of that whatsoever. It's only fair if I have everything you do. Should I make poor choices, commit acts of violence or crime, it's only fair if you give me another chance! I should get another chance no matter how many times that happens. In fact, I probably should receive compensation. It's not my fault, therefore it must be yours. If from the moment of my birth I didn't receive exactly the same opportunities, housing, education, social standing, economic advantages and support as you did, you owe me. I should be compensated for that. Hey, it's only fair.  

 So just what is fair compensation? The answer to that is as varied as the motives of man. Is it money? Can money solve every issue if given out in sufficient quantities? What of property, what of material things? Should you receive those things as compensation? In the judicial system you are supposed to receive compensation sufficient to restore you to the condition you were in prior to the injury, no matter what that injury was. And that is where the waters gets muddied. How do you measure what's " fair? " It's pretty straightforward with material things, not so much with the emotional. Can you really be compensated for an emotional loss? Can you really be compensated for perceptions? What's fair? For me, compensation should only be given to the one that was injured. The deceased require no compensation. Yes, those suffering the loss shouldn't have to bear the burden of any financial expenses associated with that. It shouldn't extend beyond that. You can't compensate grief with money! Can greed replace grief? Can we really make committing a crime too " expensive " and that will prevent future occurrences.