The clamor to “get back to work” grows louder every day. People who see no other way forward than a return to the Previous Way are starting to panic. The anxiety comes from the fact that the Previous Way was fragile, and the Previous Way can not even take a nap without falling apart. The sky is falling on the Previous Way, or so we are told. The Previous Way was so addicted to the devout religion of Infinite Growth that people ran around all day, frantically working towards … well, nobody knew, but they knew it was urgent, whatever it was. Our collective demeanor was that of the last zebra on an island of lions, always looking over our shoulder. It felt like a requirement for survival, even though it was all our invention.
But then something happened. Our survival was actually threatened. The machine of the Previous Way had to stop cold. People stayed inside and figured out what they needed to figure out – how to get food, how to stay safe, how to communicate with others to get necessary tasks accomplished.
Just like in the aftermath of a natural disaster, people are rising to the occasion in magnificent ways, figuring out how to help each other. New ‘networks’ are being formed. Desk workers are delivering supplies to the vulnerable and to those just staying home to try and help flatten the curve. The distinction between ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ workers is being discussed openly, with the irony of essential workers being underpaid thrust into the spotlight. It won’t be long before we start to question the people who take the most from the system and give back the least, and at the same time are considered non-essential. No wonder those people want us back to work before we use this slowed-down time to think a bit.
Watch the modern-day Lords on television trying like hell to get the peasants back to work. This privileged class only makes money when other people are working … for them. They don’t care how many of these workers drop dead as these vacancies can be easily filled. Little Lord Fauntleroy will stay safe in the estate built on the backs of the very people whose safety is of zero concern.
Conservative pundits have claimed that senior citizens should be willing to die in service of ‘the economy’. An Indiana congressman has made the case that money is more important than human life, stating that more Americans dying is the “lesser of two evils” when compared to tanking the economy. When a person is being robbed, the standard procedure is to give up your wallet in order to save your life. But when it comes to the aristocracy, your life (not theirs) should be given in service of their wallet (not yours).
Money has become such a ‘reality’ to people that we forget it is all made up. It’s fiction. It is a board game we created to play as we scurry around on top of the planet. The phrase “money doesn’t grow on trees” has never been more profound. Money is not a living organism, it is not a mineral, it is not a gas, and despite the metaphor being often applied, it is not liquid either. Human beings lived, bred, and died long before we ever invented coupons to act as proxy for perceived value. Hell, less than three hundred years ago there was a mad ‘rush’ of people across the western half of the United States, trying to score some shiny yellow substance that was the standard surrogate of value in its day.
We made up the game, and we can change the rules, just like we changed the gold standard. The only people opposed to this idea are the ones that are making out like bandits from the current rules. But when designing or modifying a game, isn’t it best to create rules that are fair to the most possible players? Nobody would have ever played Monopoly if the game started with one person having 99% of the colored paper bills and every other player starting with a pittance. We can change the rules and create a game we want to play, and now is the time to implement the changes.
How long should we remain in this state of society-on-hold? The longer the better. Less people will die of a disease that can be prevented by simply staying at home. People will invent new ways of achieving what is essential. More people will have time to reflect on all of the systems we find ourselves involved in but unsure if they make any sense; an entire society with the opportunity to meditate on how we want to be. Do we want to continue pouring our resources into some far-off war we don’t understand or do we want to channel those resources into helping each other? Do we want structures of individual achievement or team advancement? We could even decide to push back against the automation that is robbing us of our humanity and driving us apart. If the call is important to you, you will answer it.
The Previous Way had us all accustomed to living paycheck to paycheck. The Previous Way had robber barons pulling so much money out of bloated corporations that these huge, seemingly-robust institutions were living to paycheck-to-paycheck the same as the rest of us. Is that a ‘normal’ that makes us comfortable and anxious to re-engage? The Previous Way saw our collective treasure drained by a ‘defense’ that never bothered to fully articulate what it was defending, and would invent enemies to preserve itself. Do we really want to return to the Previous Way? Is that the best we can do? Does helping your fellow citizen need to happen only in times of crisis? Can we not think of ways to re-organize that are more beneficial to more people than the Previous Way? With all of this time to reconsider, our Future Way does not have to match our Previous Way.