Balance

At some point in the past, someone, somewhere said to me on the subject of volunteering, that it was good to give something back to the community. I went mental. Well, in a British sort of way which mainly consists of kicking the sarcasm up a notch and wondered what the hell the community had ever given to me. Sweet Fanny Adams is the answer. I'm still giving and the community is still withholding. Kinda lacks balance somehow.

Imagine then, the lack of balance for the poor bloke who has just been released from gaol in Pakistan where he has been incarcerated for 18 years for a crime he didn't commit. British citizen.
In the article it says,
'He paid a terrible price for something he didn't do.' Well that doesn't really work, he didn't pay a price, he was robbed.
Eighteen years. The entire length of my daughter's life. How do you ever square away the injustice of that? If the crime he didn't commit had not been committed in Britain, he'd have been out three years earlier too.

And then, how do the logistics work? I mean, you're chucked out of prison, there you are, no money, a British passport only lasts ten years, well except mine which is for eleven but nevermind.
In Trailer Park Boys, every time Ricky and Julian get released from prison, Bubbles illegally drives down to collect them in an old wreck of a car and that's that. So how does someone get from standing outside a prison in Pakistan to stepping off the 'plane at Heathrow, how does that work?

A Finnish study has given us some more insights into Balance. Apparently within a relationship it is better for your own health to give than to receive, especially if you are a woman, although the researchers point out that men still gain from being supportive in a relationship.
The interesting thing about the study I felt, was that it was based on people's perceptions about how supportive they were.

I think perception is part of the answer. I am very happy giving my time at the Nature Park until some jackass tries to make it into something it isn't. I get a great deal from the place itself and from the people I work with, but I don't think of them as the community.
The man who has been robbed of 18 years of his own life is probably better off than someone who has actually killed an innocent person for no reason and he is certainly glad to be back with his family and friends in Britain.

Maybe the balance we seek is about our life as a whole rather than as part of a community.
I know, that sounds a bit Aristotelian, the Golden Mean, but then why not? The only difference that I would contend is one of judgement. Aristotle would have us judged by others, but for most of us - well we are our own sternest critics.