Chapter 656: The Poor

Masayoshi Kishimoto was eating dinner with Rie Sakai when suddenly the lights all went out. He didn’t panic at all, his first thought was that it was time for his birthday cake to make an appearance.

As expected, a man dressed in a tuxedo was playing the violin in self-indulgence. As for the music he was playing, it was the well-known Happy Birthday one.

A waitress was pushing a birthday cake in a cart, and the music from the violin was moving slowly in Masayoshi Kishimoto’s direction.

Masayoshi Kishimoto looked at the candles lit on top of the birthday cake, not three, but thirty. Those birthday candles were not the thin ones that Natsui Makoto had used, but were as thick as his own thumb.

Although the birthday cake was a single layer, it was huge. Even if he and Rie Sakai ate it alone, they wouldn’t be able to finish it. He himself knew that it was just a gesture, a formality.

Masayoshi Kishimoto, after seeing the waitress stop down and stabilize the cart, slowly stood up and moved his feet a bit towards the outside.

He looked head on at the birthday cake, fingers crossed into a large fist was placed in front of his face to begin the essential birthday wish.

“Are you going to blow out the birthday candles with me?” Masayoshi Kishimoto said without rushing to blow out the birthday candles.

Rie Sakai nodded her head a bit before carefully standing up. She stood still and did not move, instead, Masayoshi Kishimoto came to her side with the help of the candlelight.

Sakai Rie took the initiative to extend her hand and shake his with her fingers. The two of them took a deep breath in unison, and then they bent down and blew out the lighted candles together.

A few moments after all the candles were blown out, all the lights in the restaurant were re-lighted. Rie Sakai kissed Masayoshi Kishimoto on the side of his face, and with a smile from the bottom of her heart, she said, “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” Masayoshi Kishimoto said as he also went sideways and kissed her right cheek in public.

He picked up the knife that cut the birthday cake from the top of the cart and cut it without hesitation. Whether he ate it or not, it really didn’t matter to him at all.

Anyway, he would have a birthday cake delivered by Fujie Nao at the snack time before 12 o’clock at night. He looked at the cream on top of the birthday cake and got bored in his heart.

Masayoshi Kishimoto lowered the knife in his hand before helping Rie Sakai sit down again. He made a half-circle around the table and made his way back to his seat to sit down again.

“I’ve been too extravagant for this birthday. Actually, something more meaningful could have been done. For example, donate the money given to me for my birthday to charity.” Masayoshi Kishimoto calmly said.

“You’re just blaming me for spending money frivolously.” Rie Sakai said bluntly.

“Did you know that every year hundreds of Mexicans smuggled across the border from Mexico to the United States die on the way.

The Mexicans who work as illegal immigrants in the U.S. in black jobs total nine billion dollars each year that are remitted back to Mexico from the U.S.

Some of the family members who stayed in Mexico with the help of remittances to improve their lives, but also used to repair the house, get married, do some small business and so on.

The Mexican society at the bottom of the people are so difficult, not to mention Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia and other countries and regions of the people’s lives in abject poverty.

In any case, Mexico also has the geographical advantage of being able to border with the United States, thus receiving some benefits.” Kishimoto justice seriously said.

“I’d say you’re hypocritical! You will never admit it. Then let’s say you’re overly concerned about the poor. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American thinker, man of letters, poet, and one of the spiritual exponents of American thought, said something about the poor in a big way in his book Self-Reliance.

In his words, “What’s it to me? Don’t tell me, don’t tell me, as the do-gooders of today tell me, that it is my duty to make a good life for all the poor.

They are poor, but are they my poor? I tell you, you stupid philanthropist, I begrudge every dime, even every penny.

Those poor people have nothing to do with me, and to them I fight for every penny.” Rie Sakai was a reasoned and strong rebuttal.

“If this were in the old days, that is, when I was a student, I would think he was not wrong. However, nowadays, I don’t fail to feel that what he said is extreme and biased.

Everyone must succeed through their own efforts, and if you haven’t succeeded yet, it’s because you haven’t tried hard enough. Charity may very well be good intentions that contribute to the lazy habits of the poor.

This would be the core of the idea that Ralph Waldo Emerson was trying to convey with his words, but it is important to distinguish between two concepts, one of inequality of outcome and one of inequality of opportunity.

There are a number of people who don’t like to discuss inequality because they believe that inequality of outcome is a law of nature and that forcing everyone to be equal is destructive of freedom.

Ralph Waldo Emerson thought the same way. However, when it comes to inequality of opportunity, few would support it.

Whether rich or poor, left-wing or right-wing, everyone actually feels that the opportunities everyone can have should be equal, and that this is truly fair. However, this is not the case.

The truth as we see it is that inequality of opportunity must bring about inequality of outcome, and inequality of outcome in turn affects inequality of opportunity.” Masayoshi Kishimoto engaged in a dialectic.

“It’s not that I have to carry on with you tonight, it’s that you have to carry on with me. Regarding the issue of lifting the poor out of poverty, that’s something that the government should have done something about.

The fact that there are many poor people in a country only means that the government is not doing much in this area, not governing much. Why do I say that?

It’s because each and every one of us is a taxpayer. We give our tax money to the government. How the government takes our tax dollars and distributes them and operates …… that is their business, not ours.

That’s why Ralph Waldo Emerson said, what’s it to me? Those poor people are none of my business. They’re poor, but are they my poor?” Rie Sakai disapproved of this kind of statement of his and said.

“I reserve my opinion, whatever you say it is!” Masayoshi Kishimoto suddenly remembered that he still had to get out of her, so he couldn’t afford to make her unhappy said.

“Nowadays, it’s your business if you don’t agree with what Ralph Waldo Emerson has to say about this. I am firmly in favor of this statement he made.” Rie Sakai said seriously.

Masayoshi Kishimoto knew deep down that once he argued with her, I was afraid that there would be no end to it. Not to mention that there was no point in existing. His strategy would just have to remain silent as a response.