Unless you are the cause of guilt and seeing the other party constantly then it is improbable to feel constantly guilty. This is because if you did not do something to someone else then you have nothing to be guilty for and if you aren't being constantly assailed by a reminder of them (i.e. seeing them all the time), thus being reminded of the guilt, you tend to forget about it all together as other things come up to occupy your time and thoughts.
Well... At least in my case this is what happens. Take for example the starving children in Africa, do I feel guilty all the time over them? No. Mainly because I don't really have anything to be guilty for, I haven't personally gone and starved them. (If we look at the save-the-kids ads then the main cause of the African children's suffering is caused by drought and an aids epidemic. My being born into the developed world really doesn't play into their suffering, just in relieving their suffering.) But every time I see one of the save-the-kids ad I feel a twinge of guilt because I have the money that could go into helping them but I'm not giving it to them; however, if I don't see the ad I don't feel guilty because I'm not being reminded, anywhere in my daily life, that there is millions of children dying in Africa.
However, I feel very guilty if I got in an arguement with a friend or parent and said something nasty that really hurt them. Mainly because I caused that pain and suffering to them and because it effects the relationship I have with them. I'm reminded constantly that I've hurt them whenever I see them which is essentially all the time. So until I've apologized and fixed things, I feel guilty about it almost all the time (I find that I can't be feeling guilty when I'm thinking about something else, or doing something else that occupies my thoughts-- perhaps I'm easily distracted?).
So to summarize I would say that no it's impossible to feel constantly guilty of the suffering of others. Mainly because it's impossible for a person to be constantly thinking about their suffering; what occurs in our daily lives takes up our time and thoughts and takes our attention and feelings away from thinking about these 'others'. Though if these people are close to us, feeling guilty can occupy a good chunk of our time.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response! I appreciate your combination of personal and real-world examples. You bring up a good point about guilt: often we feel guilty only about issues and events that are closest to us as individuals. We feel disconnected from broad social injustices, so our own concerns tend to cloud our vision and allow us to forget about them.
I urge you, however, to reconsider your remarks about your own disconnection from the plight of those in developing countries. Aren't there ways in which our life-style (in North America, for example) is maintain by the exploitation of labour, resources and the environment in foreign lands? Think back to your discussion in class and tutorials with Lindsay. We partake in larger economic and social/political systems that work based on exclusion and victimization. Take the people in Omelas, for example. No individual is responsible for the treatment of child, but every citizen of the utopia benefits from this abuse. Can you think of any parallels to this in our world. I think this will help you re-think that the idea that the only part we play in the suffering of the Third World is in relief efforts.
- Patrick