Getting lost is sometimes the point

I think more people are experiencing this right now, and as we now start to come out of The Great Pause, we resist going back to the old structures where we’re told be on this path, do this, then that and then this again.

Its drummed into us from we’re young, we must contribute, the country, our community and the quality of our lives depends on us needs us to be productive. But only in the way they want us to be.

And so we march in our straight lines into schools, colleges, factories, offices and sell ourselves to make money for someone else.

Let’s be clear, economics is dressed up as to be about what we consider to be valuable. But whether or not the banking industry sells more packaged debt, or the oil industry creates more fuel for factories and pipelines is unrelated to the well being of our communities.

GDP tells us we’re the fifth wealthiest country in the world and things are getting better.  Look around, pre the pause, air quality was the worst it ever was, homelessness at its highest levels, childhood poverty rising by a horrifying percentage, job security and wages at their lowest with zero hour contracts, and harsh employer conditions creating misery.

What’s important? Not that the rich get richer and GDP increases. Its that we all rise, that we all start to feel like life has value and purpose and importance to each and every one of us.

During the pause many people appreciated the time and the peace and silence to reconnect with what is really important to them.

Collectively, we all realised just who is important in our communities, the young man or woman serving us in the shop, the nurses, doctors and cleaners in the hospitals, the care workers. Not bankers, oil company executives, economists.

Maybe, we can now change the ‘rules’, this international economic policy we’ve had imposed on us by the wealthy, by giant corporations and billionaires.

Let’s get back to real values. Looking after our communities, our loved ones and the structures that are important, our health care system, education, and growth as an individual – not as a unit of measurement but as a whole person.