Marking the 26th Anniversary of Jim Grant's Passing : Juan Aguilar

Dear XUNICEF Family

On the 26th Anniversary of the demise of our beloved Jim Grant, herein is my humble annual tribute, to Celebrate His Life and Legacy.

Warmest regards from Guatemala
Juan Aguilar

IN LIVING MEMORY 1995-2021

"Jim's vision did not end at basic needs.  And it did not end at the year 2000.  For the next century too, he had his dream.  As far as I know, he never wrote about it.  And he spoke of it only rarely, for he knew it was an idea whose time had not yet come.  The shorthand name he gave to that vision was 'equity.' 'This century's struggle' he would say, 'is to meet basic needs.  The struggle of the next century will be for equity'. As always, he knew the complexities. But he would have nothing to do with the idea that all people have equal opportunity, and are equally capable of pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.  Out of the depths of his human decency, he knew this for the narrow and ultimately bankrupt philosophy that it is. And out of those same depths of decency, came a vision of another society:

 - a society which would truly bend its efforts to honouring and supporting all of its members,     

 - a society in which solidarity would prevail over self-interest,

 - a society in which empathy would overcome alienation,

 - a society in which the opportunities of life would not be so heavily circumscribed by  the circumstances of birth.

It is the noblest of visions.  And one day, its time will come".

From the address given by Peter Adamson, at JPG’s Memorial Service, 10th February, New York