Welcome to the forgOTTEN blog!

Are the “Occupy Wall Street” folks still out there?  Several months ago, we were hearing about them constantly.  Recently, not so much.  I heard they disrupted a political speech.  Then I heard that the National Park Police got into a scuffle with some of them who had camped out (or defecated) in the wrong place. Mostly, however, I’m not hearing much about OWS.

What are their demands?  Beyond their criticisms, do they have a plan?  How would they change things, starting from the current state-of-affairs, and lead toward a new, viable, equitable economic system?

It seems to me that it’s easy to criticize, yet very difficult to create something positive.  When I was a philosophy student, the Chairman of our Department (OK.  OK.  All 3 of us in the Department; plus the Chairman, that is), he used to say, “Don’t ever forget that, although we spend our time discussing, analyzing, and criticizing, it is very difficult to build a comprehensive system.  It’s easy to be a critic, and to discount a philosopher like, say, Immanuel Kant.  But we should pause to recognize how significant it is that Kant created a systematic and comprehensive way to understand knowledge and epistemology.”  Thank you, Dr. Ruegsegger, for this life lesson.  I remember it well.

I remember that life lesson and cringe when I listen to the garbage-mouthed critics on TV.  I remember that lesson when I hear folks complaining about Wall Street (I’m including myself in this group).  I remember that lesson at church, during Voter’s Assemblies and at church-wide assemblies.  I remember that lesson when I turn on talk radio.  It’s easy to complain.  It’s difficult to be creative, and to work with what “is” to begin building a new, viable, comprehensive system — whether that system is political, military, religious, economic, educational, etc.

When I watch this video, What has Rome done for us?, I’m reminded (in a humorous way) that we need each other.  No one ever got wealthy on their own.  You can’t succeed without others.  You won’t be able to enjoy your success if you discount others.  Ultimately, there are no little people.  No one can be a big success by treating others like they’re little.  The wealthy and the poor alike depend on the policeman, the firefighter, the public water worker, the trash collector, and on and on.

In a strange way, I need Wall Street AND the Occupy Wall Street people.  I need a President AND someone who will run against him (or her).  I can complain about the slow pace of church work, but I need the church nonetheless, with its Founder and Lord, its people and Scriptures and Sacraments.  I can rail against the government, but I need its military and roads and public services.

“What has Rome done for us?”  As it turns out, a lot!