Alice,
First, it was the Long Island chapter, not the New York Chapter. Second, I
don't remember what I said to cause you to think that they treated us
shabbily. They took turns driving us to and from their Sunday morning
"platforms", which is what they called their meetings. Fred was on their
board of directors. We socialized regularly with several couples who were
members. We were integrated into many of their activities. I went on peace
marches to New York City with them and on an overnight trip to Washington
after Nixon became President, to participate in a peace march. Another
member and I went to a meeting with representatives of the Viet Cong and
leftist Laotians and Cambodians in Toronto. I remember Fred going with
several male members to a baseball game.
What I may have said was that I had to work very hard to overcome the
typical resistance of sighted people to accepting blind people socially.
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alice Dampman
Humel
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2016 10:12 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: New ideas, new paarties
As I said to Dick, cynic that I am, I can't quite bring myself to really
believe that the better sides of human nature won't prevail, experience
notwithstanding. There are many, many examples in which it does, despite
many people's tendencies to rip even those to shreds because they are not
100% perfect.
And now, I'm going to do a little of that: you speak of the ethical humanist
movement, but look at how shabbily the New York chapter treated you and your
husband. Where were all their admirable principles of equality and the
positive sides of human nature then?
On Jul 31, 2016, at 9:54 AM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Of course, humann nature is what it is. We have the potential for
altruism
and cooperation, and we have the potential for aggression and
domination. If
we assume that every effort toward making our political and economic
system
will end in failure because the negative aspects of human nature
will win
out, then really, there's no point in trying anything that might
improve
life for all of us. One of the things that I really like about the
Ethical
Culture, or Ethical Humanist movement, is its emphasis on working
toward the
kind of society that will encourage the positive aspects of human
nature.
Miriam
