我沒有拿這出版社的錢。我也不想為這本書背書。
這是Public Service Practicum的required reading。
我只是純粹想幹譙。
事實上現階段的我對社區服務還真的沒甚麼興趣。我承認為了一個人為了社區或人事物無怨的付出是很的情操是很偉大的。就是因為偉大，這種近乎獻身的行為只能要求自己。要求自己偉大是自律，要求別人偉大則是頗傲慢。
這本書的第七章在敘述不同類型的社會工作者在服務社區時的不同態度。其中一種叫Urban Localism。
下面原文部分皆一字不漏轉貼
People who can afford it often tend to move into enclaves where they will be literally surrounded by people with similar tastes. An extreme example of this is the Southern California community of Santa Eulalia...(略)....
It is not uncommon to hear residents of such wealthy Southern California enclaves say that they have fully satisfied their social responsibilities by generously participating in the various charitable benefits-dinner dances, fashion shows, art exhibitions, and so on.
我想如果一個人非常有錢而且沒有後顧之憂，會想住在遠離塵囂的郊區是很正常的。作者用的事非常諷刺的口氣來形容這群人特別的品味。文章中不只一次特別地強調這些社區是有錢的與自我封閉的。
Few of those we talked to could afford to live in an exclusive residential community such as Santa Eulalia, but they often made considerable financial sacrifices to escape from inner city neighborhoods, where they had been surrounded with "undesirables," and move into "decent" suburbs, from which they commuted to work in the central city.
每一個社區服務類型作者皆有介紹一兩個人並在其他章節專文介紹。作者在這個整個部分完全沒提到一個他interview過的人名，只是用few of those來一言以蔽之。換言之，並沒有人名來證實這社區的人有提到住在市中心是多麼令人不快。作者非常地想要突顯undesirables到decent這之間的差距有多麼大，大到用引號來提醒讀者別忘了看這兩個精心安插的形容詞。
For many of our suburbanites, however, it is becoming less and less possible to use residential mobility to find a private haven from the problems of the public world.
好像只有住在城市才叫public，一定要人擠人才叫public，不知作者是羨慕還是嫉妒。
Many of them worried that the quality of their neighborhoods was deteriorating. Some were trying to escape from this by moving to more "exclusive" neighborhood.
我記得曾有一個故事。佛印說蘇東坡像佛，但蘇東坡卻說佛印像一坨屎，然後蘇東坡就得意洋洋地回家告訴蘇小妹這件事。蘇小妹則對他說：「佛印心中有佛所以看誰都是佛，你卻心中有屎所以看甚麼都是屎。」
對有錢人來說，說它們住的地方exclusive，倒不如說他們根本就覺得那種地方才配得上他們的生活水準。我會覺得一個地方很exclusive，那基本上是因為我根本沒那種財力或能力去住那種地方。反之，我根本就覺得沒甚麼大不了。
作者不斷地在這裡證明自己是個沒錢的Loser而且又酸葡萄。
這只是這整篇的一部分，作者的確有提到他們為社區的奉獻，但卻又回馬槍的不斷回刺說：
你們的社區不是社區只是私人專用俱樂部，我的社區才是社區
除此作者也認為在這種社區感受不到真正的competition因為生活不夠intense。我倒想知道，作者在寫這篇文章時有沒有認真調查這個社區的背景。在美國這種社會要變有錢不難，但一定是經過奮鬥得來。作者會認為這群有錢人的生活不夠competitive八成也是瞎了狗眼。
在第七章尾，作者引述一位Mary小姐的話：
Individuals cannot achieve success or happiness simply by serving themselves. It is important for all people to live as happy persons. The way to do that is to recognize that you have a debt to society.
在這裡作者要告訴讀者你如果不付出是不快樂的。你是欠社會的，你一定要付出！
原來對作者來說，讀者的情感也是要被教育的。現在開始搖身一變變成聖人了嗎？
本書的Link
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