How Lawmakers Undo Election Results & US Healthcare Ranks Last Among 10 World Democracies
How Lawmakers Undo Election Results & US Healthcare Ranks Last Among 10 World Democracies
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: The important difference between being nice and being kind.
Election Day has long passed. In some states, legislatures are working to undermine the results: These lawmakers are going to force their will despite what the voters want.
US health system ranks last compared with peer nations, report finds: We pay twice as much as other countries, but with less to show for it.
Younger people at greater risk of heat-related deaths this century – study: Old people die from the cold; young people die from the heat. And the world is getting hotter.
Kareem’s Video Break: A bear and tiger are best friends. This you’ve got to see.
Kareem the Science Guy: Researchers launch world's first solid-wood spacecraft — here's how it could solve a major issue with space travel: Why am I so delighted by this innovation?
What I’m Reading: Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture is a stunning collection of photos celebrating Black cowboy rodeo culture. Avengers: Twilight shows an old and retired Captain America gathering other aged and forgotten heroes to try to save America from fascists.
Kareem’s Sports Moments: In praise of the spotters who save athletes from serious injuries—and worse.
The Blow Sings “True Affection”: A techno-blues song you might not expect from me. But I am nothing if not enigmatic.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
“We’re not nice, we’re kind,” he said. I asked him to explain the difference. He said, “During winter storms, we let homeless people stay in our houses. Because we’re kind. We resent those same people. Because we’re not nice.”
from Norman Leonard’s “Notes from New England” issue of his All Kinds of Funny Substack
I was reading Norman Leonard’s very entertaining All Kinds of Funny Substack about a Thanksgiving trip with his family when I came across this quote. The set-up is that, while lost in Portland, Maine, a stranger stopped to ask the befuddled Leonard if he needed help. When Leonard recounted this tale to a local waiter, insisting on how nice Portlanders were, the waiter corrected him with that quote.
It stuck with me because it’s a very precise and clear philosophical distinction worthy of the wisdom of Socrates—or Calvin and Hobbes. There’s a tendency for those who pride themselves on their gruffness to make fun of people who are kind as being weak. Kindness gets lumped in as a symptom of “wokeness,” which the selfish and greedy can never fathom. They may give to charity, not out of kindness, but out of the need to appear generous and the desperation to assuage their secret shame.
This waiter’s assessment of the difference between nice and kind reveals the heart of humanity. Doing the right thing doesn’t mean we have to like it. We do it because it is right. It is right because it promotes within our society basic values that make us all safer and happier. The more people who are safe and happy, the more we all thrive as a community. It’s more practical than sentimental.
That’s the kind of logic that escapes some, who prefer the trickle-down theory of kindness: Whatever trickles down from my over-stuffed plate onto the floor is for others who are not dining at the table. Those who gather those trickle-down crumbs should be grateful for my “kindness.” Remember, the more my plate is full, the more crumbs will fall to the floor.
The waiter accepts that, though we may be grudgingly kind, that doesn’t prevent the act of kindness itself. Do what’s right, even when it’s inconvenient. That is the Christmas spirit.