Aren't People Ashamed?

I ran across an article yesterday that discusses the use of surrogates in India by people from more developed countries (U.S., Britain, France, Japan, and Israel). The article discusses why the women do it, the ethics behind it, etc. Many of the India women already have children and become surrogates so that they will be able to send their own children to school.

Of course the comments were generally atrocious with a mix of opinions ranging from 'this is so sad' to 'these women are making the best choice possible for their particular situations' to the infertile people crying 'but you don't know what it's like to be infertile and not be able to have the kids you want!'

As I read the article and the comments, I couldn't help but ponder a phrase from Two Arms and a Head: The Death of a Newly Paraplegic Philosopher. In the book there is a quote that has really stuck with me and sometimes it will just pop into my head when I think about a particularly crappy situation. The quote is: "God loves us? Aren't people ashamed to say such things?" In my head I've reorganized it into "Aren't people ashamed to say God loves us?" That's how I felt in particular as I read the arguments that tried to justify the women doing this in order to survive and care for their children.

Aren't people ashamed to say they live in a world that both allows and produces such grotesque poverty that it puts people in such situations? How can a person not be ashamed to say that?

It's times like these that I really feel that I'm actually a Martian and I wonder how I ended up on this pitiful planet called Earth.

Even based on the assumption that we can't change anything and 'that's just how things are,' I still can't comprehend that people are not utterly ashamed of the world we live in.

But I guess that's just me.

Unceasing problems

I'm not really looking forward to today. Or any other day really. Except maybe my wedding. I just can't escape the feeling that life is really just a series of problems. You fix one and another (or ten!) just take its place. This feeling really hit me this morning when I checked my email and saw my electric bill for June and July. I'm not sure why we're just getting the June one and we didn't even live in the apartment in July so... And they are both about the same amount. Does that mean someone has been living in our old apartment and now we're paying the bill? Or have the apartment people just been leaving the lights on? *sigh* I am jsut too tired to argue with the electric company. I'm starting to believe that there is a psychological aspect to bills apart from the profit-driven one. I believe that they are designed to put you in a low state of terror. You see the bill, it looks higher than usual and then you start to stress out. You call the company and discover that it's either your or the company's error. But either way you've still stressed out and wasted some time of your life. I guess the obvious answer is not to stress but of course that is easier said than done. Especially for a person like me who sees so clearly that the only thing separating me from hunger and homelessness is that thing that people tell you not to stress about.*

*money