Selfishness and altruism

Copper thieves broke into the Mennonite Central Committee mobile meat canner overnight Jan. 19-20 as it sat outside the MCC Great Lakes offices in Goshen, Ind. The crime is especially sad when one recalls that those hard-hit by the recession in Elkhart County received 50 cases of canned meat from MCC Great Lakes in the past year.

Also unfortunate is that MCC paid $1,000 to replace stolen wiring and tubing, and lost time in their canning efforts, as the organization is airlifting 70,000 pounds of canned meat into Haiti for earthquake survivors. It is sometimes amazing that human beings can hold the potential both for altruism and for selfishness. — Celeste Kennel-Shank