Friday, September 18, 2020

Social Police





Waiting to pick up fresh organic veggies at the farmer’s market, I notice someone cutting the line in front of the person ahead of me.  I personally don’t know him.  But my first impression is that of a young healthy fit dude without any visible disability.  Everyone who notices gives him the stinky eye.  Eventually, someone speaks up.   He moves back behind the last person just like everyone else did when they first arrived.  Maybe he didn’t realize there was a line?  Maybe it was the extra space because of social distancing?  Or maybe he feels special and just decided to cut the line?  Whatever the reason, It wasn’t illegal.  It just wasn’t cool.  An unwritten rule in our civilized society that people police on their own.  This made me think about how different the world would be if wealth hoarding would be viewed with the same scrutiny as cutting into a line-up.  A world where instead of idolizing those living lavish lifestyles, we would see their behaviour as being rather selfish, as taking more than their share of the shared pie.  Do those who work hard and earn it deserve more than the rest?  Maybe?  But when does more become too much?  Unlike love, the amount of money and wealth in this world is finite.  1 dollar in my pocket is 1 dollar less in someone else’s.  Now don’t get me wrong.  It’s not that I’m shaming success.  It’s about redefining it.  It’s about no longer glorifying excess.  It’s about re-awakening our animal nature of not taking more than we need.  A world united.  How wonderful would it be to live in such a world?!

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