If the care of the young and the temporarily sick left much to be desired in some areas, then the care of the permanently physically or mentally disabled was arguably even more deficient. Again, it has to be stressed that the principles were highly laudable, in total contrast to the Nazi policies of ‘euthanasia’ (actually murder) for the ‘unproductive’ or those who were allegedly ‘burdens on the state.’ The GDR was committed to high ideals in this area.
— Mary Fulbrook, The People’s State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker
The historian Tom Holland recently became the subject of a social media hatestorm over an old tweet in which he said that the authorities responsible for ignoring and covering up the Rotherham scandal had acted from noble motives. To be fair to him, he was simply noting the irony, unlike Fulbrook, who seems to think that communist tyrannies should be awarded some kind of meaningless points because they supposedly “meant well.” This is a widespread delusion, of course, which is why communist iconography and slogans are seen as little more than bad taste or youthful folly, whereas swastikas are horrifying, full stop.
Many years ago, I read a book by Steve Hagen, a Buddhist author, and one part of it in particular has always stuck with me:
It is enough to simply act based upon what we see. When we pay attention to our actual perceptions instead of our concepts — our hopes, our fears, our goals, our desires, our individual and cultural stories — then no prescription or set of commandments is necessary. Action that grows out of seeing is naturally responsive and appropriate to the situation, whatever it may be. This means you’re not clinging too tightly to your cherished beliefs and opinions. You’re ready to toss them when you notice they don’t work, when you notice they’re a source of pain and anxiety. The focus always comes back to just becoming awake — and once again, becoming awake. This is how we’ll save ourselves, save the world, save the environment. Just this, and not another idea, not another best-laid plan.
My twenty-something self, infatuated with concepts, was frustrated by this, wanting clear answers and directions, but the fact that I could never simply dismiss it as obscurantist mysticism suggests that some part of me recognized the sagacity of it, even if it took a while to grow capable of fully grasping it.