Mr. Speaker, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.
I am reminded that it is nice to have a soft heart or a soft head but you had better not have a soft heart and a soft head at the same time. It is probably wise to have a soft heart and a hard head.
The reality of the situation in which we find ourselves in life is that if you cannot first look after yourself, how can you possibly look after your neighbour? That does not mean we do not have to look after our neighbours or that we do not have compassion. It means that we have to make a basic, philosophical decision. Are we to be personally responsible for the good and bad in our lives or are we to say that society is primarily responsible for what happens to us?
How can we be interdependent if we are are not first independent? I guess that is a basic contradiction between the whole notion of common law and civil law. Do we put individual rights ahead of collective rights?
This conversation typifies the debate that rages in our country from east to west and north to south.