Consciously Changing the View

The world doesn't want us here.  It's rough, tough, competitive - only the strong survive.  If you can't cut it, maybe you don't belong.

Right?  Except none of us can do it entirely alone.  Not even this hermit could survive on his own.  For all their tough-talk, could you imagine a hunter/fisher surviving Maine winters without a little help or resources from their fellow man?

They'd be dead.  This shouldn't be a surprise - we're not meant to live in the climate we do.  Without social infrastructure, it wouldn't be possible.

If there's no such thing as society, than we wouldn't need social infrastructure, would we?

But we do.  We all do.

As always, quotes need context, including Thatcher's line about non-society.  What she was, perhaps, really referring to was the fact that government is not God and has no power other than what we, the people, invest in it.  

Not for ourselves, mind you - there's little ROI on taxation that benefits millions of people when your priority is Number One.  Society isn't an immediate, selfish gratification kind of thing.  It's something bigger that we have the privilege and responsibility to be part of.

Back to Thatcher.

It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour.  People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations.  There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.

And the truth of it is, no one can look after themselves in exclusivity.  The tough-minded people who've inherited or earned a spot at the top rung of the social ladder?  They didn't build that ladder, not study the physics that made the ladder possible.  They have benefited from the labour of others.

Did they push, pay, motivate the people to get it done?  Maybe.  Without the people, though, they'd be nowhere.  And if those people aren't able to look after themselves, then there's no ladder to climb.  

As a species, if we didn't rely on each other, we'd never have left the Savannah plain.

So, we're in this together.  What does that mean?

It doesn't mean those with access and resources are obliged to carry their less successful peers for the simple reason that to do so is to deny others the opportunity to reach their maximum potential.  Without committing sociology a bit, it's hard to imagine those top-dog alphas can reach their full potential as human beings, either.

Society should put a floor beneath everyone - get the basic needs out of the way and direct people towards growth.  This will be different for each individual, meaning mass customization is required - something slowly being realized and implemented within both our education systems and the workplace.

Sometimes it means a bit of cash and some training.  In other cases, it may require intensive medical support.  In a lot of places, though, what's required is encouragement and nurturing.  

How might we help those who fall or are knocked down learn to get back up again?  How can we empower them to be their best - strong individuals for a strong society?

This brings me to the image lined above; a brave young lady who had the courage to tell her story and try to inspire others.  For her efforts, she was bullied further.  It was too much.

If those who took advantage of her had had some social emotional learning and training in emotional regulation, might they have thought twice before dehumanizing a young lady for a power trip?  Could Amanda Todd have found strength in peer support, enough to overcome the trauma that became her daily life?

The point of sacrifice is to take pain out of the world so as to keep others from harm.  There is, however, very little that one individual sacrifice can do to make the world better; instead, what martyrs do best is provide inspiration, a catalyst point for introspection so that we who remain behind may be moved to try harder at being better together.

Moving forward together means leaving no one behind.

The world doesn't care if we're here; we have a systematic role to play, one that we've overstepped the boundaries of.  Yet here we are, and here we will stay unless we wipe each other out or succumb to the ravages of nature and time.

Do you care about your own future?  Then you've no choice but to consider your neighbour - not just for the Golden Rule, but for mutual survival and growth.

Why are we here?  No particular reason - we just are.  But we are, together.

And since we're all here, together, whether we like it or not, why not ask - what can we be doing with the time that is given to us?