As Lee congratulates herself: "I do a lot for people around the world, but after reading the paper, it suddenly struck me, why am I not doing more for those in need here?" This kind of extreme socially conscious attitude is defined by Lee's desire to transform society so that it is more equitable to those who are in most need. As already explained, the nature of social work practice in a social democratic paradigm is to provide practical humanitarian care to the casualties of capitalism. or, in other words, it is crucial that responsible individuals and institutions make an effort to help those who have been ground under the wheel of an economic and political system that is built on the premise of inequality. We can see that Javed embraces this approach as he is more than willing to hold Lee up as a principled figurehead whose selfless actions to help others represent the most important way she could celebrate the engagement of her son. She explains, "I wanted to show [...] that you need to care about other people, even when you are celebrating yourselves."
Despite this, there are shortcomings to the construction of the article itself that leaves the careful and cautious reader wanting more. It is quite unclear what the importance of the Santa Claus Fund...
In some respects, the article is quite misleading. Based on the title, "A Special Gift for Engaged Couple," we might think to learn about how a new couple was helped by someone's generosity. Reading along, we might expect to find out about other troubled individuals and how the Santa Claus Fund has helped them. Instead, we learn about the laudable actions of Janet Lee, both in this instance and others. In the end, the article reads like a quick pat on the back for Lee whose socially responsible attitudes the author felt it was worth relating.
Javed's article about a socially conscious gift does highlight principles of the social democratic paradigm and how everyday people in ordinary situations can apply it. Obviously, Javed believes that this paradigm is the most useful in approaching the real -- if largely unmentioned -- problems that society faces as a whole. While readers are given some indication of how they can help, there is scant information in the article regarding the Santa Claus Fund or the social ills it was designed…
