How do people come here to Australia from foreign countries and integrate into our society? I am wondreing about the basic infrastructure like getting a job, and housing and things like that.
It seems that people from less wealthy countries are willing to do pretty unglamorous jobs in order to make ends meet. Today I saw someone who worked at a service station on the bus. . . . ‘That is a good idea’ I thought. . . ‘How could I find a job like that’.
There seems to be work out there for the willing. . . I have unturned many many stones in search of it. . .
I guess the problem may be for some people that they don’t have the capacity or wherewithal to do any of those unglamorous jobs or work for themselves, or even to get financial support from the government.
That is a very precarious situation to be in.
Harsh realities
People are experiencing that situation though. Right now. All over Australia and the world, some people are experiencing this.
It is not even slightly organised.
And then at the other extreme are people in their sports cars, with their passive income, or investments, or great jobs, who simply don’t have to worry about money in the context of their livelihood or well being.
Culturally this is difficult, because people with no money, no job, a lack of housing etc are not (typically) socially acceptable, to some of the people in the middle and some of the people at the top.
The subtle social rules that are embedded in our society tend to push people like the poorly to the outskirts of everyday social networks (or they isolate themselves), so they become increasingly isolated from these ‘healthy’ social networks and I believe that this may further increase deviance from the acceptable (and often unspoken) ‘norms’ of society.
What do you feel when you see one of the nether people?
I am guilty of this myself. It is an intuitive response to judge people who are dirty, dishevelled, distressed or demonised in some way.
Very sad to be the person who is the unacceptable one though. Which is why empathy is probably the most important tool we have in our box of tricks that we could use to heal the ills of humanity.
How does one learn to be empathetic? Even without a functioning mind, soul or heart? How to imagine what someone else is feeling in a certain situation?
It takes theory of mind probably. A developmental skill that I think emerges early on in our lives.
At what cost is this suffering?
It is sickening because not only do people who suffer from the most scary, stressful, grotty, gruesome, horrid experiences as part of their quest to simply avail themselves of the basic requirements for life in this century, but they are scorned and judged for the fact that they struggle as well.
What is the solution?
From a compassionate point of view, I want to open my eyes, heart, ears and world to ‘the great unwashed’.
