Volunteerism

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How do we make this nation of ours work? One word: Volunteerism.

One very big problem with our society is that most people 'needs ta get PAID' in order for them to expend any effort. This is slowly changing, and of course there has always been a percentage of the population who have been more than ready to jump in and do things that no one even asks to be done.

However the mercenary attitude persists, and for good reason. Our society demands that we earn currency, to pay taxes and feed the corporate monsters. Thus "Time Is Money". We may all know that it really isn't, but the phrase has been burned into our brains.

The thing is, when you do not ask what's in it for you, the work is more rewarding. You can replace "time is money" with "what goes around comes around", and relax and live happily. Can't you?

In an ideal world, yes you can. This is far from an ideal world at the moment, so no one can be faulted for working within 'the system' to ensure one's needs are met. I can tell you from personal experience, however, that considerable pressure may come to 'get a job' if you decide to let volunteer work become your main focus.

Do I expect to 'get paid' for founding and developing the Unified Settlement? Of course not. I never have. I've accepted payment for Flag of Earth T-shirts, but have done no better than to break even on them, and would gladly give them away. Similarly, when and if I can gain control of Flag of Earth International, I'd be happy to let it operate in the red if I could afford to make up the difference.

Unless a person is born into a community outside the influence of capitalist/consumerist society, or manages to escape from it (and unless they are financially independent), that person will continue to be pressured to 'earn a living'. Beyond that, there could very well be pressure to 'become successful'...

Why? What is the point? Would you not be happier building and maintaining your own home and helping others build and maintain theirs? Would you not be happier (and healthier) growing your own food and helping your neighbours at harvest? But that kind of life exists only in the distant past -- or does it?

Technology surely has changed things, and much of it might not exist without capitalism and a mercenary attitude. However there is much technology that has been kept hidden from us, much of it developed by inventors who received only misery and early deaths for their trouble.

By now we should have evolved past the need for money. If those hidden technologies had been allowed to develop alongside (and commingled with) all the others, the 21st Century would more closely resemble the dreams of futurists past. Everyone could have more than thy ever needed, without lifting a finger...

...Though we probably don't want things to turn out quite that way. If there is a certain amount of work involved in everyday life -- probably more physical work than most of us are accustomed to -- we can keep ourselves from becoming useless. In the future, I can see people being judged by their peers much differently. One may be able to choose to do nothing at all, and others may leave that person to it -- then again they would probably think more highly of that person if he or she found something constructive and/or contributory to do with his or her time.

The kind of possible society I'm describing here can't be labelled in current political terms. It is neither 'communist' nor 'democratic', neither 'republican' nor 'socialist'. WHEN it is allowed to exist, we will have seen the err of our ways and forever put government behind us.

Now, who among us can manage to 'earn a salary' for working toward this future? No one can -- at least not for long -- and if they do they will find themselves volunteering a portion of their 'wages' to those less 'fortunate'.

For we are all family, here on Earth, and that's how we have to look at it. Even the power elite are family -- for them, we have to stage an intervention, because they've grown too big for their britches.

So, let's get the family together and show everyone that there's a better way. Let's teach the hungry how to feed themselves, teach the angry how to calm down (or, at least, to redirect their anger to the true source of their problems), teach the greedy the true meaning of wealth.

And, let's hope they'll listen to reason.


Phil Smith
February 7th, 2006


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