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10000truths 2 hours ago

> Arts and creativity is a luxury. Freedom to pursue passion is a luxury.

Sure.

> Compassion is a luxury. Self-esteem is a luxury.

No. These are virtues, not luxuries. You don't need a high income to be compassionate or have self-esteem.

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phoe-krk 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> No. These are virtues, not luxuries. You don't need a high income to be compassionate or have self-esteem.

It's not about you, it's about others around you. If they do not have a "high income" (or, in other words, materially comfortable life), you cannot expect them to be comfortable enough to be compassionate or have self-esteem. And then, if they don't, but you do, it's an easy recipe for your compassion to be exploited and your self-esteem to be perceived as danger. It's a self-leveling system.

It's not an individual matter, but a social one. Always has been.

And it's not specific to China - I see it in Poland, a relatively "we've been damn poor forty years ago" country as well.

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IncreasePosts 2 hours ago | parent [-]

This flies in the face of my own experience travelling all over the world, where the poorest people would offer me extreme generosity and not accept anything in return.

Maybe it's bias because I'm an "exotic" white guy in many areas and not just a random down on their luck average guy from their own region.

I've also been offered generosity by rich people, as well, but, I will generalize, that mainly came after I demonstrated some proof that I didn't actually need their generosity

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alightsoul an hour ago | parent [-]

Maybe it's country dependent. I have seen what you describe in countries where christianity is the dominant religion and most people in those countries something like 70 to 80 percent identify with it. And religion in those places is most prevalent among the poor, so much so there is a direct relationship between poverty and religion, the more religious, the poorer.

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daymanstep an hour ago | parent [-]

In my personal experience, religiosity correlates with the appearance of kindness but not the actual act of kindness.

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Qiu_Zhanxuan an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

One's compassion reservoir capacity is proportional to one's capacity to fulfill its own needs first. You fill your cup first before you pour into others.

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sublinear 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> These are virtues, not luxuries

I'm only speaking from my own experience here. When I've seen stressed out people who are expected to believe in "virtues", they just become more dishonest to hide their bad behavior.

The bell curve of human behavior stays the same no matter what time or place.