“Let us forget with generosity those who cannot love us.”
The line is Pablo Neruda’s.
This is not possible, as indeed it was beyond Neruda’s grasp at the end, when his beloved Chile was annihilated by Henry Kissinger. Those who cannot love us mean us real harm. In this country, in this hour, the Tea Party Republicans want to eliminate all social programs benefiting the poor and the elderly or people with disabilities. That is a story about which the outcome remains in some doubt. What is not in doubt is the predatory and heartless social reformation well underway in the United States–a reframing of social Darwinism without apology.
Here is a quote from The Nashville Examiner that tells a tale so Dickensian I want to scream:
“A few days ago, doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia delivered stunning news to parents Joe & Chrissy Rivera. They were denied approval to a life-saving kidney transplant needed for their daughter, three year old Amelia. The reason given: “Mental Retardation.”
When the Riveras were told they would never be able to get on the waiting list they objected, stating that they or someone in their family would donate a kidney. There was no need to wait for a donor. But the doctor persisted.
“She is not eligible because of her quality of life. Because of her mental delays,” the doctor insisted, according to Chrissy Rivera.”
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Planet of the Blind 
Wandering about the Internet, it seems as if that the Neruda quote stands alone as is, but I wonder if there was a context from which it emerged, a poem, speech or essay? Yes, this quote does not play well in many contexts. I think of the Jews reminding us to “never forget” the Holocaust — seems like good advice. Rattlesnakes in the high desert — don’t forget about ’em — if we absent-mindedly stumble upon them, they simply cannot love us, as we worry them so.
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