From one Danish citizen far, far away in Northern Europe: Happy 4th of July to the US and its citizens! Never let go of hope ♥ And remember that however much you do not agree with the sitting government, there is always something good to be found in everything. So maybe cherish that someone loves your country enough to want to make changes? Maybe you do not believe these changes are for the greater good but at least try to appreciate the deeper national pride and intention? Even when you do not believe that this is the way to live, you probably do remember a time when you also believed this, however young you were…? Or maybe you have loved ones that did (or do).
And appreciate how a lot of your fellow citizens are struggling and haven’t felt heard and met for many, many years. No one has tried to help them live dignified lives, and guide and support them through structural changes beyond their control. So desperate times calls for desperate measures…? Humans (unfortunately) are best at black & white thinking, so we tend to pendule between one extreme and the other. Where the truth is probably rather a synergy of all the inbetweens, all the nuances in the color scale. But most people don’t see this, and even the ones that do, don’t truly understand it enough to live by it… ♥ At least, that’s what I observe from our behaviour. So don’t judge the people you disagree with too harshly? In the end, we are more alike than one should think…
Seen from the outside, the current state of US affairs was inevitable. The US has been praising capitalism and monetary profit over all else, in fact you called it the American Dream. And in the last many decades, most of the rest of the world aspired to follow. New Public Management was installed to make the public sector more “efficient”. When I look back to the Danish public sector in the eighties, we needed this. But we took it too far.
Because when we put money over all else, we destroy both planet and people. And even if you cannot see it right now, we are all dependent on both the planet and each other. So when you destroy one, you destroy all of us. But I know many of you won’t agree: You believe you can fight all the things you don’t like and then be left alone with your chosen ones in a perfect world. I cannot convince you otherwise. You will have to destroy the world first to see that it didn’t work. And I will have to let you do it. Because otherwise I am no better than you. But I can try to speak in a voice of love and caution and hope that maybe you will listen. Maybe I can be a small whisper in your ear, a small conscience growing bigger?
My strong belief is that capitalism in its current form has to be changed. Thank you so much, United States of America, for helping more and more of us seeing that clearly ♥ Thanks to your – and our own – over-focus on monetary gain, many of us can now see the adverse effects of capitalism. We hope that #WellBeingEconomy , #DoughnutEconomics and similar will be installed instead so that money is never the end goal. WellBeing, collective thriving, and being stewards of the land is a necessary foundation for prosperity.
As a Dane, I think of the Danish farm societies in 1850-1950. There were many limitations and we cannot go back, we shouldn’t want to either. But we can learn a lot from them. They sent all the employees to week long “folk high school” stays, to learn both practical trades but also how to think and debate and be a citizen in a democracy. Your Rosa Parks went to one in Tennessee based on the Danish / Grundtvigian principles, and here she got her courage to stand up for herself, she has told at one point. Because at a folk high school you are taught that you are all worth the same and everyone has a right to express their needs and opinions. And democratic debate is the way to get wiser and make the best decisions for all. So they practice this, together.
In 1932, a guy from an agricultural college in India went to Denmark to learn about their ways in the rural farm communities of Denmark. He wrote an enthusiastic piece about it in their journal when he came back home to Nagpur. And I think we can all learn from it. Both in Denmark, in the US and the rest of the world (Bhutan as a possible exception, because maybe they already get it). In integral theory, it is said: Transcend and include. Evolve in an inclusive way. So don’t throw out all we have learnt through milliennia. But include the best and built on it ♥
The first step (I believe) is to overcome polarity. Stop black and white thinking. We are not each others’ enemies. That’s a lazy way of thinking. Easy and human but lazy. However: The behavior of some people does need to be regulated. And as we, the 99% who are not billionaires or decision makers, are the majority, we can regulate the behavior of those who are spinning out of control. But we need to listen to each other and learn to master democratic dialogue. It takes time. We won’t agree in a fortnight. But we need to keep the conversation going. Explore and learn, and then go home to likeminded people to rest, before exploring with “the others” some more?
The article: Rural life in Denmark in Nagpur Agricultural College magazine of 1932: https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.27215/page/n127/mode/2up