What does 'Care for others' mean?

Any true expression of care, I think, offers presence of some kind, though it may be no more than a greeting card. There are more demands on our attention than we can ever deal with. We cannot, as much as we would wish, meet every need, nor should we. There are times when we must measure the attention we give – not our care, but our expression of that care – not by another’s need, but by our ability to give. To do otherwise would be to hold another up at the expense of our own selves. It may also be to hold another in a place or emotional state that is unsustainable.

“Cure without care makes us into rulers, controllers, manipulators, and prevents a real community from taking shape. Cure without care makes us preoccupied with quick changes, impatient and unwilling to share each other’s burden.”

After years of giving food to the hungry, a person realized that these efforts, while important, were not enough. They relieved burdens of conscience for the rich, and met the need of people who cared about the poor, but they did little to change the system that kept people in poverty. As he began increasingly to care for the poor, he started questioning openly those governmental policies that favored the wealthy at the expense of the destitute. Years later, he commented, “When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist.”

The truest gift is not to fix anything but to acknowledge the depth and reality of human experience. When we recognize that our care is our own feeling, our own need, we may then become better able to express that care in ways that touch other people. Ironically, it is when we acknowledge our own powerlessness that we become empowered.

Communities care. We care for each other, we care at least about and hopefully for the world beyond our borders, and we care for our community. That means journeying with one another, being open to problems that are not always solved, listening to one another and acknowledging the reality of experience from which we voice our expectations, concerns, sorrows, celebrations, stories. It means respecting the dignity of affliction and the dignity of humanity. It means bringing hope when hope is hard to find.

It really doesn’t take that much. A gentle word here, a smile there, a conversation, a visit, a kindness. We may never see how much of a difference we are making, but I tell you, it is that care that is the difference between Heaven and Hell. It is that care which lifts us from isolation to hope. It is that care which brings us once again into the communion of the divine.

[... Care for others and share whatever you have with those less fortunate than you, Celebrate Life. ...]

The curse of science

Science has intruded our lives beyond accepted limits and have facilitated us with most unnecessary luxuries. It has taken away a lot from us than it has actually given us. Also most of its 'so called' benefits reaches only to the richest layer of our societies which makes it even more difficult for the others to understand the basics of life - 'helping each other and the happiness gained through it is true life'.

Most of the materials can satisfy only our body. The mind needs good company - most of which comes from living things.

Science in itself is not a curse; but the inventors and the force that drive these inventors is a curse - which again has come from Science. We need to decide what we want - good or bad - but it never works like that. Normal human beings (most of us) tend to get attracted towards bad things easily. So it's in the hands and responsibility of those who can understand, think constructive, invent and thereby have direct or indirect impact on others' lives.

[... Care for others and share whatever you have with those less fortunate than you, Celebrate Life. ...]

Lesson of Lacan

Fantasies have to be unrealistic. Because the moment, the second, that you get what you seek, you don't, you can't want it any more.

In order to continue to exist, desire must have its objects perpetually absent. It's not the "it" that you want, it's the fantasy of 'it'. So, desire supports crazy fantasies. This is what Pascal means when he says that we are only truly happy when daydreaming about future happiness. Or why we say, 'The hunt is sweeter than the kill' or be careful what you wish for because you're doomed not to want it once you do.

So the leson of Lacan is... living by your wants will never make you happy. What it means to be fully human... is to strive to live by ideas and ideals... and not to measure your life by... what you've attained in terms of your desires, but... those small moments of integrity, compassion, rationality even self-sacrifice.

Because in the end, the only way that we can measure the significance of our own lives is by valuing the lives of others.

[Professor Gale's speech from the movie 'Life of David Gale']