On Friday morning I woke up crying. I had spent the previous evening hearing how the health and education system are failing the most vulnerable members of my community. How incredible are the people impacted by these problems! The heartbreaking thing about all the stories shared was just how simple many of these tragedies are to solve – if only the ‘system’ allowed. And this really got to me.
The inconvenient truth is that most of us go about our daily lives ignoring what is all around us. Unless it affects us personally, we carry on thinking that life is OK. The health system is fine. Education seems to work. We may be oblivious to the troubles of those around us who have been let down or excluded from those systems, and whose quality of life suffers terribly as a result.
We collectively and passively propagate the unholy alliance of media, politics, economics and bureaucracy to deliver a system that allows people to fall through the gaps.
Our societal model is just not working – anywhere. But what is most troubling is that this broken Western virus is still spreading, as if it is the only option. The problems we face in modern society are not caused by the malicious intent of individuals. I believe, deep down, that there is good in everyone. The problem lies in the actual systems. They encourage us to bring out the worst in ourselves.
We cannot show humanity to other human beings through rules, regulations, systems, and governance. It is not human to ignore the plight of another human being in our midst. For a million right reasons, humanity has taken many steps to progress – and ended up with a result that doesn’t really serve anyone.
But there is hope. Thanks to technology, we are starting to reclaim our humanity. We can now face what we have ignored for so long, and begin to solve those problems. Rather than be organised by others, we can now look to self-organise.
Part of creating the best community on earth is making sure that nobody is left behind. A community is only as great as its most unfortunate member. So we need to rebuild how our community works, from the ground up. To do this, we must let go of the past and reimagine everything we have built. The upside of this shift is the rediscovery of our lost humanity in the process. As a result, we will gain true wealth.
My community is rising to the challenge of creating the best place to live on earth by 2020. Some of the answers to this challenge will lie in big, bold projects, but many solutions rest in daily small, human acts between one person and another.
We look to Hollywood for our heroes, but the real heroes are in our midst. The real heroes are the ones who care: who give their time and energy to improving the lives of their neighbours. The real heroes are those who have nothing, yet give everything.
The path we all need to walk down leads us to face our inconvenient truths.
The mass scaling of community, kindness and compassion will be our cure.
Marc
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“The real heroes are the ones who care: who give their time and energy to improving the lives of their neighbours. The real heroes are those who have nothing, yet give everything.”
The unsought heroes…how sad that most of us forget about their significance.
It is indeed. That can be changed though.
“My community is rising to the challenge of creating the best place to live on earth by 2020.”
Which community?
The wonderful Channel Island of Guernsey. http://www.dandelion.gg