This seems to be the year of the protest. All over the world, including Wall
Street, people are gathering to express their distress about what's happening
in politics and in big business (hard to separate the two anymore).
Then we have the everyday experiences with large corporations we deal with
where customer service is so often a byword with absolutely no meaning in the
'real' world. At every turn there seem to be cutbacks in staffing both in the
private and public sectors and I have to ask, ‘What’s going on?’ We keep
getting increases in fees for services and corporations report huge profits yet
they seem to need to cut back staff on a regular basis and often claim they don’t
have the money to pay decent wages to the ones who are left.
The talk is of recession and countries going broke yet somebody’s making
some very big money in the middle of all this. So I keep asking, ‘What’s changed?’
Here are a few of the changes I’ve observed in my lifetime that seem to be
related to this decline:
On the individual level
1)
We’ve become a debt based economy. The advent of credit
cards and high interest debt changed the way we live in ways I can only begin
to fathom.
2)
We want, want, want and we are willing to owe, owe, owe
to get, get, get.
3)
The amount of ‘stuff’ individuals are accumulating is
mind boggling (notice the number of storage places that have popped up in the
past 25 years or so).
4)
We’d rather mask problems than face them for the most
part.
5)
We’ve become totally distracted by the desire to be
entertained. Even churches have become entertainment centres in order to
attract and keep followers. Notice the amount of money entertainers and sports
figures command. That’s only possible because of the amount of money we are
willing to spend to keep ourselves distracted so we won’t have to feel too much
despair, unhappiness or lack of fulfillment.
On the business level
1)
The economy is dominated by large, publicly traded
corporations where the owners are stock holders who have no investment or
interest other than financial. As a result the sense of pride in ownership and
service mindedness that goes with that have all but disappeared. Employees seem
to be the most disposable assets.
2)
Lots of small businesses start up but few succeed
because we are so conditioned through advertising and such to go for the well
known brands.
3)
The large pharmaceutical companies fund most of the
medical training and so doctors are taught to treat with drugs. The amounts
spent on prescription and non prescription drugs today are staggering.
4)
Big banks and big business appear to be the ones really
running our countries at least here in the West.
5)
Oil companies, fearing they may lose control and money seem
to be blocking a lot of the progress that could be made in finding other sustainable
energy sources.
On a global level there are just so darn many of us on the planet
now. No matter what else we do, somehow we need to deal with the overpopulation
situation.
These are just a few of the changes that readily come to
mind, there are many more no doubt.
So what do we do given where we are?
Here are a few thoughts that come to mind.
First, we need to face what is going. Putting our heads in
the sand and trying to ignore it all doesn’t seem to work very well. Believe
me, I’ve tried. Thinking positive is great as long as it isn’t about avoiding
but rather being unconditionally present and able to see beyond limitation .
Then we need to take a big breath and own it all. It’s so
easy to point fingers and blame ‘them’. We may not see exactly how we’re
responsible but if there is a willingness to see that we are all in this
together then perhaps we can join in more meaningful ways to make necessary
changes.
Of course it would be very helpful to notice what beliefs
and assumptions we’ve been making that contribute to the situation. If we can
compassionately inquire into these stories we have about the way life is and
bring peace to the emotions engendered by those beliefs perhaps we can find
compassionate and peaceful ways of evolving into something more tenable for
everyone. Otherwise, if we keep avoiding and projecting ideas that aren’t
actually working to make anything better onto the world we only maintain the
status quo or dig ourselves even deeper into the mire.
Then from a place of peace and openness we are better able
to see other possibilities and make choices based on what is truly important to
us as part of the whole rather than from a limited, fear based position.
Some of the possibilities that come to mind include:
a) We might start buying more quality and less quantity,
supporting more businesses that are locally owned.
b) What if instead of running out and creating more debt by
buying things we don’t need to make ourselves feel better, we spent more time doing things that are meaningful and
fun.
c) We may possibly look at our investments and see if there
are other options that may be more in alignment with our values.
d) Perhaps we might partner with others to provide services that
contribute to wellbeing rather than just economic gain.
The possibilities are only as limited as we are.
In this year of the protest, it’s important to realize that
even if protests should bring about wanted change, there needs to be a change
in consciousness to sustain it. Compassionate, connected commitment to living authentically
and responsibly is a powerful way to bring about sustainable, inclusive and
effective change in the world.
Nature always seeks balance; living a balanced, inner
directed life is a great way to follow her time tested example.
