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On Sensitivity
North Miami Beach, FL June 11, 2001 Aaron H.
Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then, Opinions pro or con are welcome.
ON SENSITIVITY
One person's sensitivity may not be the same as another's. Witness the
kind of sensitivity over the death penalty being projected by those against
and those for. There are many reasons given on both sides. The law, in the
instance of today's execution of Timothy McVeigh, says it must go forward.
If an advocate against the death penalty was in the position of being the
person to give the signal for the death process to proceed, there might have
been another delay and ultimate lifetime incarceration of the convicted
murderer.
This is about sensitivity, not the rectitude of today's spectacle. I refer
you to the kind of insensitivity that is being shown by the team of the
present president Bush. It is very much like the kind of insensitivity
shown by the previous president Bush and the Conservative leaders before,
during and after them.
They do not occupy the same space as that of us sensitive types. What is
sensitivity anyway? I think it is the capacity of being able to put
yourselves in the shoes of those who think differently from you. It is also
the willingness to see the other side and allow for disputation and a need
to hear all sides. This does not seem to be true of the present owners of
the right to say - GO.
I have noted that when someone tells me that they want something and want
it badly that I better listen. If they write it down and send letters with
postage on them, they need to be heard. If they carry signs and parade I
better worry.
This is not the kind of sensitivity shown by the Bush Conservative and
Compassionate team. Their pre-election electioneering is not proven by
their post-election practices. They have broken their word and will hear no
protests. Would that we had the sincere but morally bankrupt kind of
sensitivity that kept our nation prosperous during the last decade of the
previous century. What do you think?
Carol's Evaluation: out of 10
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