Practising the Golden Rule
By Letter to the Editor on August 5, 2020.
I wish to say I appreciate the article by Greg Bobinec, “Moms come together for photo to show lives lost to opioid crisis.” The photo is one of many taken across Canada for Moms Stop the Harm.
I think the quotations of one mom reveal that experts in mental-health addictions are gaining ground. As well, attitudes are changing in law enforcement. But in Lethbridge, the agency entrusted to help addicts had to be closed.
I was particularly interested that one mom feels changed, and she wants to promote people “to be more compassionate and understanding.”
Thank you for your words that tie into a book I am studying: “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life” by Karen Armstrong. Please visit the website charterforcompassion.org where you can read the charter drafted by thousands of people worldwide and submitted to the Council of Conscience to write the final draft in 2009. Six faith traditions were involved in writing it.
In 2008 Karen Armstrong was awarded a major prize from TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) for her brilliant ideas. From the earliest times, philosophers and prophets of every faith have advocated practising the Golden Rule. (Always treat others the way you would wish to be treated yourself.) In her intelligent, methodical book, Karen has promoted that all of us should apply the Golden Rule respecting all individuals everywhere every day.
As I think about progress made and small steps forward, I admire the goals of Alberta Moms Stop the Harm.
Shirley Almas
Lethbridge
10-9
Mom’s Stop the Harm are /were huge supporters of the SCS in Lethbridge, to the point of arranging for addicts from other cities to find their way to Lethbridge. More clients, more crime on our streets. How is that compassionate? Groups like this obviously condone the inappropriate use of public funds.
‘Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life” … a book you might want to read.
through the ages, when and where actual opium was legal, societies never suffered as they do with big pharm’s proprietary catastrophes of synthetic “opioids”. (do not reference the opium wars because that was a matter of colonialism – what we call globalism today). the thing is, big pharm could not each make fortunes off of misfortunes with real opium because they could not patent it. instead, with govts in their pocket and the with the stupid and inhumane war on drugs ruining lives and societies and cultures the world over, we have created a massive mess.
“opioids”, unlike real opium, are synthetic structures, and our bodies have not developed a genetic relationship of tens of thousands of years or more with them (think of the effects of alcohol on peoples that have not had thousands of years of interaction with that substance). consequently, the percent of people that become dependent on “opioids” is significantly higher than those that become dependent on real opium.
it is imperative that the feds ban “opioids” and legalise opium. a free human does not require a third party authority to allow one to decide how to manage pain, or how to chill, for that matter.