金大中

Dec. 3, 1925 - Aug. 18, 2009

The Hand That Feeds

You're keeping in step in the line Got your chin held high and you feel just fine 'Cause you do what you're told But inside your heart it is black and it's hollow and it's cold Just how deep do you believe? Will you bite the hand that feeds? Will you chew until it bleeds? Can you get up off your knees? Are you brave enough to see? Do you wanna change it? What if this whole crusade's a charade And behind it all there's a price to be paid For the blood which we dine Justified in the name of the Holy and the Divine Just how deep do you believe? Will you bite the hand that feeds? Will you chew until it bleeds? Can you get up off your knees? Are you brave enough to see? Do you wanna change it? So naive I keep holding on to what I wanna believe I can see But I keep holding on and on and on and on Will you bite the hand that feeds you? Will you stay down on your knees? -Nine Inch Nails

A man peers out from a loose blindfold as he sits with the others suspected to be Taliban militia members after being arrested by U.S. forces in Combat Main camp at the Pesh valley in Kunar Province August 14, 2009. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

우리의 인생은 일기예보

인생은 일기예보와 같다. 수십억의 인간들이 모여서 제 나름대로의 인생을 살고 있다지만 결국 기쁘고 슬프고, 행복하고 불행한 그 두 가지 감성의 교차에 지나지 않는다. 궂은 날이 있으면 맑은 날이 있듯이, 그 어떤 불행한 사람에게도 반드시 행복한 때가 다가오기 마련이다. 그러므로 오늘 날씨가 바람 불고 비가 온다고 해서 지 나치게 근심하거나 슬퍼할 필요도 없으며, 오늘 날씨가 쾌청하고 구름 한 점 없이 맑다고 해서 우산이나 비옷 을 없애서도 안 될 것이다. -최인호 수상록 <문장>에서

Excessive government spending has done more than just put us in debt. Charles Murray offers us a useful thought experiment that illustrates the welfare state's enervating effects on our communities and our character. Imagine that the programs that constituted the federal "safety net" were all of a sudden abolished, and for whatever reason could not be revived. And pretend also that the states chose not to replace them with programs of their own, which they almost certainly would. The questions Murray wants us to focus on are these: How would you respond? Would you be more or less likely to volunteer at a food bank? Would you be more or less likely to volunteer at a literacy center? If you were a lawyer or physician, would you be more or less likely to offer pro bono services? We would all answer yes to these questions, wouldn't we? But then we need to ask ourselves: why aren't we doing these things already? And the answer is that we have bought into the soul-killing logic of the welfare state: somebody else is doing it for me. I don't need to give of myself, since a few scribbles on a tax form fulfull my responsibility toward my fellow man. Do our responsibilities as human beings really extend no farther than this? - Ron Paul, from The Revolution: A Manifesto