Dear Girija:

You are welcome. “The real pollutants are always geographically closer to the poorer populations” – true, but like urine in a corner of a swimming pool, give it some time and it spreads through the whole pool.

“The caste system in India… There were supposed to 4 main divisions, but lo and behold – we have subcastes within each caste…. Even among the rich, there is a poor guy – poorer rather. He will service the rest…  and we know money is the only value we have in capitalism” –

– this reminds me of the words of a famous song: “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people, Sharing all the world… You… You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one” – in some way, you and I can promote equality by (1) treating the individuals in our personal lives as equals: equal to us and equal to each other and by (2) staying away from people who refuse to treat us as equal.

“slavery, casteism. These were all devoid of empathy or unity. They were evil and abusive. A society built on top of such an environment is naturally not ethical…. On top of this, there is no real punishment for exploitation. The rich get away. This is the society our ancestors built. This is our karma. We are suffering the consequences” – well said, and very sad.

To end this post on a positive note, yesterday was Martin Luther King JR Day in the U.S. Here are two quotes from what he said on April 16, 1963, related to what we’ve been discussing:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”.

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed”, Martin Luther King Jr.

anita