The Main Things

Walt Whitman once said "Our fundamental want today in the United States ... (is) a religious and moral character beneath the political and productive and intellectual bases of the States. For you know not, dear, earnest reader, that the people of our land may all read and write, and may all possess the right to vote--and yet the main things may be entirely lacking?" (1871)

The main things... and what are they?

People will hone their skills at online stalking and reporting and update from phones that cost more than a car payment, and yet DO nothing. They will be sharers of information with readers of information and doers of nothing. As Francis Chan pointed out, is it not an emergency that children are abused and repeatedly raped everyday across Thailand and even these United States? Is it only an emergency when it affects my friends and family?

Yet we would report it over and over and make sure everyone knows about it and millions of dollars would go into the kilobytes used to share our information--beefing it up with images and sound bytes and videos--of the tragedies in the world and few drop a dime or lift a finger to save them, except to click mouse to share or type an emoticon of response.