It's a good metaphor for a lot of rich nations' involvement in poor nations. The impulse is good (or can be), but the actual help may be unwanted.
When *that's* the case, maybe the donor nation needs to take a step back and think about why what it's offering is unwanted and what its own motivations for giving are.
--And same in this case. "Well, of course we don't want to see you suffering without electricity and running water!" ---But if it's not suffering? If I like the rhythm of daylight and night, and fetching my water. "But--that's being opposed to progress! That's wasting your time fetching water when, if it was piped to you, you could be using your time for other things!" --Ah, so really, your help springs from discomfort with my choices.
Other stuff figures in to it, of course.
But the reverse is also a problem--looking at a homeless woman and saying "Oh, I'm sure she's living this way because she likes it." And in some situations, a person with more capacity does have to make a decision for a person with less capacity, even against the second person's will--like when a child doesn't want to take medicine to make them get better (I know some would argue with this example, but most wouldn't), or when friends drag a drunk pal out of a bar rather than letting her continue to drink--things like that.
no subject
When *that's* the case, maybe the donor nation needs to take a step back and think about why what it's offering is unwanted and what its own motivations for giving are.
--And same in this case. "Well, of course we don't want to see you suffering without electricity and running water!" ---But if it's not suffering? If I like the rhythm of daylight and night, and fetching my water. "But--that's being opposed to progress! That's wasting your time fetching water when, if it was piped to you, you could be using your time for other things!" --Ah, so really, your help springs from discomfort with my choices.
Other stuff figures in to it, of course.
But the reverse is also a problem--looking at a homeless woman and saying "Oh, I'm sure she's living this way because she likes it." And in some situations, a person with more capacity does have to make a decision for a person with less capacity, even against the second person's will--like when a child doesn't want to take medicine to make them get better (I know some would argue with this example, but most wouldn't), or when friends drag a drunk pal out of a bar rather than letting her continue to drink--things like that.