what would you do to insure the safety and well being of your loved ones?

Question

if you lived in poverty in a country where there was very little opportunity, would you rise up against opression and illegally cross the border into a free living liberated society?

Answer 1

Security is a concept of mind i believe. In America, supposedly the most accepting country in the world, could a person and their family feel secure if they were Japanese immigrants during WWII (these were all locked up in compounds) or be a communist, even if a patriotic AMerican during the McCarthy Era when Communists were witch hunted and hounded and worse by the government.
So-my point is, security is where you find it in yourself. I live in a very "safe" country but should i want to move to Nepal or Lebanon or South Africa i believe i should have to adapt to ensure my own safety, never mind my family's. So-there's the key, a genuine co-operation, co-existence and acceptance of those whose rule you live under. Unfortunately this may mean accomodating your beliefs etc but if youtr family is more important than your principles then it shouldn't be a problem. There was once an Irishman who was communist and he called for revolution in Ireland (a very uncommunist state). He was hounded and witch hunted til he left for fear of serious reprisal. He went to Russia, the heart of Communism. Here he was eventually mistrusted as a Westerner and interned in a Gulag. Nothing he could have done would have ensured his security-except changing his principles.
Personally, i would take the Gandhi appraoch-i would fight oppression wherver i see it even if it didn't threaten my family directly. But i live in a "safe" country. So-i'm moving to travel the world soon and i will undoubtedly taste all the insecurity and principle-testing i can in the next few years. Good question-food for thought.

Answer 2

Absolutely. 50 years later, no one would remember, and I would have changed the course of my family's future for the better.