While some people romanticise being so busy that you suffer from exhaustion every other week and see it as an achievement that you have no time for anything but take on everything. While others yearn for a break, the slow movement of life drifting slowly enough for them to grab onto beauty, love, peace and hold it tight.
In normal society, we have been led to believe that capitalism is the only way for a society to survive. And while it may be a way to survive, it is not allowing citizens to thrive. There are many other systems which we could employ to run a more meaningful, and even more efficient society.
This virus apart from its devastating effects has granted us a unique opportunity (trying to look for the positives in a dire situation). One which many of us will never acquire in life again. It is giving us the ability to STOP! Just stop for a second. The economy was halted and is still partially halted. We are still here, we are still living. We don’t need the economy to breathe. So forget about the economy for a few minutes, just a few.
Now without thinking about money (which is what the economy thrives on). What is truly important in life?
Food
Water
Security
Kindness
Acceptance
Companionship
Helping one another
I know there are more and please give your comments on what is important to you.
Living is important, feeding one another is important. Being kind is important. We don’t need to rely on a strictly capitalist mindset to gain and give out these things. Money in itself does not make crops grow - soil and water do that. Money does not make it rain to fill up dams which quench our thirst – nature does that. Money was once just a piece of paper. Now money is just a lot of numbers digitally displayed. If you explore the monetary system you will find out that most money doesn’t even exist. Money thrives on debt. You must refund something which was created when you asked for it, it is not in existence, but you must find money which is existing to pay it back. It is more detailed and complex than this but you get a general idea.
So I ask, why are we chasing this system which is not entirely necessary? Why do we sacrifice our health, our loved ones, our mental health and much more in order to chase something which is not essential?
Because we have all bought into a flawed system which benefits those at the top at the expense of those at the bottom.
But now this unique opportunity has been given to us which allows a re-write of history, a reform. Believe me, the crash of the economy is not the end of the world. Economies have crashed many times before. These crashes were primarily caused by the disruption of the flow of money, not the resources being depleted. A crashed economy speaks of the effects on the monetary system. Food and other resources remain unchanged, but the reliance on money is what makes people panic. Society has been led to believe that money itself feeds us. A crashed economy is the prime position for new reforms to be put in place, for a better system to be implemented. One which benefits a lot more people than what our current system benefits. We have an opportunity and we must use it. Now more than ever, we need to educate ourselves away from the mass hysteria (aka the mass media) and away from the keyboard warriors and self-proclaimed experts (aka narcissists).
We need to grab this opportunity with both hands. A better society for all is within our reach, we have all been forced to slow down. To stop. To reassess. Whether it was divine intervention, the universe, or our very own doing. We are being sent a message and we must heed the call to do better, to live better, to feel better. Let us rebuild our society based on humanness, on kindness, on compassion. Not, on a piece of paper.
Summed up so well in an article from the World Economic Forum:
"The crisis has exposed weaknesses, but it has also illuminated strengths. There is a new-found understanding and appreciation for essential public services, most notably health. Consumption and mobility habits have changed dramatically – a sign of adaptability towards a more sustainable model – while technology has potentially revolutionized learning, working, producing and caring. We must draw on these strengths to build back a better world"
Source: World Economic Forum
Read full article at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/recovering-from-covid-19-these-are-the-risks-to-anticipate-now/
We can do better than what has been done to us. Let us open our minds, open our hearts, and seek a better world for more than just the select few who have been benefiting for centuries off the backs of our citizens hard labour.
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