Have I rehabilitated myself?

Welcome to the Group "W" Bench!! Any card carrying liberal should be familiar with the song "Alice's Restaurant". Hence the name. For those who aren't familiar, the Group W Bench was where they put the inductees that might not be moral enough to join the army. The last question on the very last page of a very long form was: "Have you rehabilitated yourself?"

The answer, in my case, is: not nearly enough. But I'm tryin'.

15 years of being involved (in one way or another) with the psyches of various populations hasn't quite beaten the wide-eyed optimism out of me. I still believe that people are, by and large, good. That they will usually live up to (or down to) your expectations of them, so it is better to expect goodness. True evil (a'la 9/11, OKC, Hitler's Germany, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer) still catches me totally flatfooted, with the question "WHY????" reverberating through my entire being. It is truly beyond my ken.

On the other hand, I no longer believe that all of the less fortunate in the world are helpless victims. In every life, there are choices, and consequences for those choices. There comes a point in every life where you look in the spiritual mirror, and if you don't like the person you see, you are the only one who can change the reflection. It has been my sad discovery that many people don't want to work for progress, they want to have someone wave a magic wand like the fairy godmother in Cinderella, and fix everything wrong with their lives without them having to expend any effort in the process.

Now don't get me wrong, there really are people out there who have been victimized so often, by so many, and let down by those supposed to protect and care for them, that they have given up, and need encouragement and help, not censure. There are also plenty of people out there who have been beaten down by a combination of circumstances beyond their control. They just need a helping hand, and a few opportunities, to shake themselves off and rebuild productive lives.

I have been blessed to have a loving husband, two very active kids, and two fabulous cats. I also spend a lot of time with my parents, who are getting on in years (Dad is a WWII vet).