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Saturday 14 May 2016

Decision Fatigue, and Catholish Charities

Some people wear grey t-shirts every day, trying in vain to protect themselves against "decision fatigue."
I haven't taken it upon myself to tell the world what's trending, with what topics it should concern itself, so  burden is somewhat lighter than that of such movers and shakers, but it seems to me that the shade of the fabric I pull over my head in the morning is not just a relatively easy choice to make, it's an actively pleasant one, even if the pleasure is very small - it is virtually impossible that ten minutes, or ten hours, or ten years from now I'll be kicking myself and moaning, "Periwinkle? WHY, why, why, why.....?"
Other choices are neither easy nor pleasant, so when the day starts, it's nice to get something like t-shirt color under my belt, so to speak - decision-making successfully navigated!
My current decision fatigue comes from the apparent elasticity of the word "Catholic," with an upper case "C."
I used to think that persons and institutions calling themselves "Catholic" were, you know... actually Catholic in thought and practice. Naif!
Alas, there is no guarantee that the word means anything of the sort nowadays. My time, my efforts, my charitable dollars, (few though they may be,) - how can I know they do not support practices I abhor?
I must research for myself.
Several times recently Himself has bemoaned finding himself aligned with people with whom he is not used to agreeing, because those who more usually share stances seem to have gone off the deep end, more intent on pushing the agenda of a bizarre ideology than in improving the world and the lives of those in it in commonsensical ways.
And I know how he feels, but I'm also aware that it is virtually, perhaps literally impossible to live in the world without compromising ones principles at least to the degree required to some times collaborate with those with whom one disagrees, perhaps even on fundamental issues.
Aren't we glad when Der Schränker in "M" organizes other criminals to guard the children?
Shouldn't Melanie take Belle Watling's money in the noble cause of fighting for the Glorious Confederacy?
Don't the good Daniel Craig and the evil Harrison Ford justifiably band together against a common enemy in Cowboys and Aliens?
Sorry about the tangent. Anyway, I came to terms some time ago with the fact that if you need mosquito nets to save lives and the only NGO with mosquito nets to sell in that part of the world also provides abortions, you may end up temporarily engaging in commerce with someone who provides abortions.
You are not yourself doing or endorsing evil, and you hold your nose when you materially, remotely, mediatedly cooperate with it.
But when you complacently enter into a long term relationship with the devil?
Now sometimes the people who make you aware of what's going on may not be people with whom you'd necessarily wish to associate, either, but I think you must be grateful to them for opening your eyes.
The Lepanto Institute, for instance, are provocateurs, and I'm told not above stretching a point to connect the dots as they demonstrate the webs of cooperation that allow certain kinds of evil to flourish unchecked by, indeed, supported by good people.
And they may be a bit to quick to try to establish guilt by association.
But they are right too often to ignore, and I think they're going to be a go-to for me in days ahead.

Right now, I don't need them to spill the goods, I can be disappointed all on my 'onesome.
A family member asked me to join in helping a medical charity.
The "Catholic" board chairman, when I asked point blank where they stood on the use of embryonic stem cells for research or therapy because "I can not support that," said absolutely not, no way, never, that's important to me too.
Come to find out, I don't know whether the chair is lazy, deceitful, or ignorant, but the groups they bankroll actively lobby for money for the development of new embryonic stem cell lines, and laws protecting such development, and actually pursue such research themselves.

Gonna go live in a cave...

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