IMAGINE

I have always been told I have too much imagination.  I am not realistic.

According to these people, we live in a democracy.  Democracies are always capitalistic.  Supply and demand should always be allowed to control everything--it will keep things fair and real.  Good people always come out ahead in the end.  Bad people always get their comeuppance.  Hard work always pays off.  Honesty is the best policy.  Poor people are just lazy.  We live in the best country in the world.  People in our state are the salt of the earth.  There is only one true religion--that is why they follow it.  And last but far from least--quit rocking the boat.

I have, at one time or another thrown serious questions at every one of those truths.
I might be a boat rocker.

I thought as I got older I would realize that the real world would take over my world view--maybe even had to.  I expected to come to agree with those people that constantly explained so patiently what was wrong with my imaginings about a better world---a better system of human governance.

I'm older.

It didn't happen.

The world is full of different ways of doing things. It has always been full of different ways of doing things.   As a child, I loved history--history movies, family history, history classes--but only later, when I went from the required American history class to those odd  history classes that were elective unless you actually had a history major--did I get to see behind the curtain.  Our official history is not very similar to every other place, culture, people, religion and country's history.  To understand a single war you must read many books from many perspectives and even then, you must be aware that its a book and does not cover everything.
The same is true of every leader's record and every religion's story.  To think you can memorize some dates and the names of some wars and presidents and know what happened, what was real, what caused what---ridiculous.  There is always more.  And in that more, there are people, millions of people, diverse people, rich and poor people,  all kinds of people with all kinds of imaginings.

The world is full of people that would love it if the world was more peaceful, more equal, slower paced, more cooperative.  Those people would be happier with sharing what they have more of than they need in exchange for what we have more of than we need.  They would be happy to show us their customs, their cooking, their clothing and jewelry designs and in exchange, we could show them ours.

We teach toddlers to share.  Sharing is not oppositional to our humanness.

I used to tell my parents that if we all had a job we liked, one we felt good about:  that used our strengths without being too boring or too unchallenging or too stressful.  And because all any of us really have is time--and not a known endless supply of that, we could all make the same amount of money for the time we do for our job. Because aren't we just trading our time for money?

Oh--the warnings I received.  The horrors described to me.  The awful people that would want to do easy work they weren't suited to and the lazy people that would do jobs too easy for them and---how would we know who was successful?

I argued, and explained, but ultimately the response was that without competition, no one would actually accomplish anything.  No one would strive.  Nothing new would ever be created.

Kind of funny, as my father created new things all the time, for free, because he needed something that did something and either no such tool was for sale or it was way too expensive.   Sometimes he made stuff for no other reason than he was bored.

He was terrible at business and hated working for other people because they wanted him to build things the way they said--even when it wouldn't work as well.   He spent his life doing work that was both boring and hateful to him and only at retirement did he get to do what he wanted.  He worked everyday after he retired at 63 until he was 76.   Then he focused on gardening until his health gave out entirely.

So many years doing what he hated then 13 years he loved.

I fear I follow in his footsteps.

I am capable of doing many things I enjoy.
They pay less than my bills each month.
So I do whatever job I can find that does not make me dread every day so I can pay my bills and dream of retiring--to the work I want to do.

I imagine a world in which every life is valuable enough to not be wasted in such a way.  A world in which those things that are doable by most people but held in low regard and given low pay will allow everyone to do what they love some of the time and allow those that actually like that work to make a living at it.

We hold our reality too close.  We lose sight of potentials that are not impossible--just not currently the way we do things.  We stop people with imagination from helping to make the world a much better place.

We are governed by sheepherders that don't like sheep.

The world can be better.  Most of us believe that.  Most of us have to believe that to keep going.

Just imagine a world doing what you love---every day--with people you love--every day.

No more losers that day--every day a special day worth living.

Just imagine....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_YXSHkAahE