"Little" and "Happy"

A great monk once said " The west has shown how much a man can have, and still be unhappy. India has shown the world, how little a man can have and yet, be happy".

Wonder if the "happiness" in having "little" made our society the way it is? We do have a system. A system that was intended to serve the people. A system thats not too far in to capitalism and not too far in to communism. A system thats set in place by people who fought with everything they got to be a free nation. A system that guarantees every individual a voice, every person an opportunity against oppression, every citizen a  hope in the form of a vote. A system intended to give a billion people  a chance at a "little" better life, and thats not asking much. Just a simple life with basic amenities.

The success of a society is not what the country has collectively, not what the rich have, not even what false patriotism tells us our past is or was. What use is a trillion dollar economy, if 1 in every 4 people doesn't have enough to eat?

Do we have a democracy? Is it a republic? Is it a mixed economy? Do we have a government that elected for /by the people?Do we feed our people? Education? Health? Jobs?water?sewage? A system that gives the most downtrodden at least a hope for a "little" better life?

What DO we have?

As the monk said, we have already shown how little we can have and still be happy. That was in the 1890's.

Not today. Millions of people are suffering every single minute, every single hour, dying with flu, hunger, being washed away in floods, on the streets in ridiculous attacks, in their own homes,...and the country watches it live.

Just another news, just another story, before we think about what to have for dinner.

Trust

A child believes in his parents. He trusts them to feed him. To protect him. To care for him. Thats innate. Thats basic...and thats human. Every one of us came through that door.
The masks we wear, the games we play, the greed we show..oh yes, we all learnt them, as we grow, slowly, hour by hour, day by day, as we learn to learn, as we learn to observe, as we learn to understand. Parents, with whatever pressing responsibilities and little time they might have try to teach us what they believe makes our/their life easier, not necessarily right.
The same child, who cries to see a worm get hurt in a birds mouth grows callous to see a fellow human being, just like you and me, starve to death, slowly, hour by hour, day by day.
The same child, who smiles at every face, grows  a cold heart to a fellow human being, just like you and me, shiver in cold, faint in the sun, die on the streets, slowly, hour by hour, day by day.
The same child, who cried when his milk was late by a second, lacks an ounce of mercy, as he walks by a fellow human being, sick with disease, withering the pain with every contraction of a hunger pang,slowly, hour by hour, day by day.

Would the child do the same to his kin? Are they not the silent partners who taught him to ignore, oversee, skip, turnover this ghastly inhumaneness thats spread across in his land, from his street, from his house, right in front of his own eyes?
How can the child be so hardened, without an iota of compassion, any sort of emotion or just plain pity at the suffering of a fellow human being, much worse than an animal?

Wonder who that child is?