Roads into New Territory

Author: Marjorie Smith (original website:  http://www.people-for-peace.com/)

The War Society is a Wealth-Concentrating Society.

    -- Its goal is to accumulate more money into fewer hands. Most human needs and values are secondary to profit, and are short-changed in favor of profit.

    -- War gives governments an excuse to transfer society's resources away from roads-and-bridges, health, and education, to the mega-corporations that build expensive weaponry.

    -- Concentrated wealth must have wars to keep up profits and spur the growth of the mega-corporations.

We, the people who live in the wealth-concentrating society, find ourselves daily "breathing the air" of a sort of "money consciousness." We feel cravings for more things, bigger houses, bigger cars, etc. We focus on getting more money as a way of filling our cravings.

I and some of my friends are finding that, when we carefully examine our cravings, what we actually want is deeper connections with friends and family. But it's hard to notice this when we're surrounded with so much striving for money and things.

This is why I picked out getting closer with our already-friends and getting to know new friends, as a workable route to Peace on Earth. As we start to fill our desire for human connection, the craving for "more and more stuff" fades. This will make it easier for our whole society to move away from the wealth-concentrating mentality which is so much the "engine of war."


The War Society is a Wasteful Society.

    -- Weaponry is made to be destroyed. Bombs are for blowing up. Billion-dollar planes and tanks are expected to be blown up, too.

    -- The value of ordinary goods and resources cycles round and round through the economy as they are used. For example, a truck is used to carry boards to build a house. But weapons are a dead-end item. They produce no further economic value by their use -- not to mention that they destroy lives and buildings.

We can decide whether we can afford the waste of resources -- the drain on our economy -- of building and using weaponry. Especially at this moment in history, when humans are pretty well using all that the Earth has to offer, it's a good time to ask "Is this how we want to use resources that, from now on, are going to be increasingly precious to us?"

And once that question is asked, THEN we finally can start to seriously look into other ways of getting along with the rest of the world. We live in an exciting time!


The Profit Economy Rips Us Off

Any time we earn or spend money, there is a percentage that gets ripped-off. That is what "exploitation" means.

    1) When we get paid for our work, the company pays us less than the actual value of our work. The part they don't pay us goes to make up part of the company's profit.

    2) When we buy something, we pay for more than we actually get. The amount we over-pay makes up part of the producing company's profit.

    3) When we borrow money (including using a credit card) to buy something, most of the interest we pay on the borrowed money is a profit to the bank.

    4) When we buy food and other things that come from far away, not only does some of the price go to oil for transportation across continents and oceans -- the giant food and oil corporations make additional profits on that transportation.

We can divert resources over to an economy of peace, by being less involved in the money cycle. We can earn less, spend less, borrow less, and buy locally-grown-and-made. Every time we earn, spend, or borrow less money, we get to keep the part that would have been ripped-off and use that time and energy in other ways.

We can turn these "saved" resources towards building a peaceful, people-oriented world. We live in an exciting time!


Moving Away from Rip-Off

Here are some examples of life goals that might be more fun than making lots of money. You can add your own ideas. I don't mean you should do all of them -- any one of them would be a fine life-project, depending on your interests.

-- To re-design one's home and transportation for better fuel efficiency and to encourage people enjoying each other.

-- To make our own music, art, and comedy, and thereby celebrate our family and neighbors.

-- To raise a lot of our own food (there are ways to do this even in the city) and support nearby farmers who use sustainable methods.

-- To get to know people who are "different" from us and gather everyone's ideas into local projects and celebrations.

-- To encourage small, local businesses that are owned and run by the people who work there.

-- To learn several languages and make friends among people who speak those languages.

Many of us are already headed in directions like these, but maybe haven't admitted it yet. These are roads into new territory -- beyond the war economy. We live in an exciting time!


Our Greatest Resource is the Children

The world's children are the ones who will be growing up to find solutions for the difficulties and unworkabilities that the violent/coercive society has gotten us into. The whole world needs our children to be more inventive and more connection-oriented than our generation has had a chance to be.

Some of the time and energy that we divert from the profit-oriented economy, when we earn and spend less money, can be allocated to increasing the inventiveness of children.

We can pay attention to a child while she or he learns about and explores the world in her or his own way. Children make excellent use of adults' attention, to learn about things they are interested in.

Every half-hour that you can focus on a child -- just being there quietly paying attention while she follows her own interests, and helping in whatever ways she asks for -- will be repaid to society many times over, in the clearer thinking and greater inventiveness of that child when she grows up. You don't get better payback than that!

Eventually we will be able to give every child, every day, an hour or more of an adult's undivided attention. School will be really different! and we will begin to see how inventive humans can grow up to be, in ways we haven't even imagined yet. We live in an exciting time!


Deliberately Re-Routing Resources

Those are some ways we can deliberately shift our personal resources and goals toward a more respectful and caring economy -- towards Peace on Earth. By earning less and spending less, we recoup some of our own time and energy that would have been ripped-off by the profit economy. We can turn some of that saved energy towards other kinds of goals.

You can set up a situation that will help you practice the part that is hardest for you to do.

One time I lived in a 24-foot travel trailer in an RV park for several years. It gave me a good reason to get rid of a lot of "stuff" that I didn't really need. If I wanted to buy something new, something else had to go to make room for it. I got a lot of practice in asking, "Do I really need this?" and "Is it more important to me than the thing that will have to go?"

Another time I needed practice in "knowing what I want." I would go for walks in the neighborhood, and at every street corner I would ask myself which way I wanted to turn. Sometimes I'd get halfway down the block, realize I'd made a "mistake," and go back and turn a different way!

Talk with your friends about a life-goal that might interest you, besides making a lot of money. Just get started in a small way. Once you start, you'll find out whether you enjoy the particular rewards of this path, and if so, you can divert more of your energy to the new goal.

If you and some friends start "diverting" together, you'll have each other to think with and can encourage each other through the challenges. We live in an exciting time!

KAKO NAPREDOVATI


 



Vojaška družba je materialistična družba

-- Njen cilj je, da bi čim manj posameznikov nakopičilo čim več denarja. Večina človekovih potreb in vrednot je postavljena na drugo mesto in opeharjena, dobiček je pomembnejši.

-- Vojna predstavlja vladam izgovor, da dohodke ne vlaga v cestno infrastrukturo, zdravstveni sistem in izobraževanje ampak v velika podjetja, ki izdelujejo drago orožje.

-- Nakopičeno bogastvo potrebuje vojne, da vzdržuje dobiček in spodbuja rast velikih podjetij.

Mi, ljudje, ki živimo v materialistični družbi, smo vsak dan soočeni s težnjami po kopičenju denarja. Hrepenimo po večji količini stvari, po večjih hišah, po večjih avtomobilih, itd. Z namenom da bi naša hrepenenja potešili se osredotočimo na kopičenje denarja.

Jaz in nekateri moji prijatelji ugotavljamo, da si želimo le tesnejših družinskih in prijateljskih vezi. Toda to je težko ugotoviti, ko smo obkroženi s težnjami po kopičenju denarja in materialnih stvari.

Iz tega razloga sem kot način za vzpostavitev miru na svetu izbrala poglabljanje že obstoječih prijateljstev in spoznavanje novih prijateljev. Ko začnemo izpolnjevati potrebe po stikih z drugimi ljudmi materialne potrebe zbledijo. Na ta način bomo celotni družbi olajšali odvrnitev od materializma, ki deluje kot »motor vojne«.

 

Vojna družba je zapravljiva družba


--Orožje je namenjeno, da bo uničeno. Z bombami se bombardira. Še več, tudi načrti za bilijon dolarjev in tanki so namenjeni, da bodo uničeni.

  --Vrednost stvari in kapitala  med tem ko ga uporabljamo. Na primer, s tovornjakom lahko prevažamo material, s katerim lahko zgradimo hiše. Orožje pa je namenjeno samo temu, da svoj cilj uniči. To nam ne prinaša nobenega ekonomskega dobička -- kvečjemu le uničenje življenj in zgradb.

Sami lahko odločimo, ali si lahko privoščimo tako zapravljanje sredstev—odtok naše ekonomije—z ustvarjanjem in uporabo orožja. Še posebno zdaj, ko ljudje s pridom izkoriščamo od zemlje ponujeno, bi se bilo dobro vprašati: »Ali želimo, na ta način uporabljati dohodke, ki so nam od tega trenutka dalje vse bolj neprecenljivi?«

Šele ko smo si zastavili to vprašanje, šele tedaj lahko začnemo resno razmišljati o drugih načinih, kako bi se ujeli z drugimi. Živimo v vznemirljivem času!

Ekonomija si hoče prilastiti še naš del dobička.


Vsakič, ko denar zaslužimo, ali ko ga porabimo, nam ga določen procent odtrgajo. To je izkoriščanje.

1. Ko smo zaposleni dobimo manjše plače, kot je dejanska vrednost našega dela. Tisti del naše plače si podjetje lasti kot dobiček.

2. Ko nekaj kupimo, plačamo več kot dejansko dobimo. Kar preplačamo si podjetje šteje v dobiček.

3. Ko si denar sposodimo (tudi ko uporabljamo kreditno kartico) za namenom, da si nekaj kupimo, gredo vse obresti banki v dobiček.

4. Ko kupujemo hrano in druge stvari, ki so bile pripeljane od daleč stran, ne samo, da gre del denarja za nafto, za prevoz (čezoceanski, kontinentalni) ampak tudi v dodatni dobiček industrije s hrano in naftne industrije.

Te dobičke lahko preusmerimo v ekonomijo miru in sicer tako, da ostanemo kar se da izven denarnega kroga. Lahko manj zaslužimo, manj porabimo, si manj sposodimo in kupujemo tisto, kar je proizvedeno in vzgojeno v bližnji okolici. Vsakič, ko zaslužimo, porabimo ali si sposodimo manj denarja, bomo obdržali tisto, kar bi nam sicer odtrgali in ta čas in energijo porabili na druge načine.

S temi »prihranki« lahko gradimo družbo, v kateri sta mir in človek vrednoti. Živimo v vznemerljivem času!

Oddaljevanje od izkoriščanja


Spodaj našteto so le nekateri primeri življenjskih ciljev, ki utegnejo biti zabavnejši od kopičenja denarja. Lahko jim dodate tudi svoje zamisli. Ni nujno, da sledite vsem—vsi so primer življenjskega projekta, odvisno od vaših interesov.

  --Da preurediti domove ljudi in transport, za boljši izkoristek goriv in spodbujamo ljudi, da se veselijo drug drugega.

  --Da ustvarimo lastno glaso, umetnost in komedijo in s tem proslavljamo svojo družino in sosede.

  --Da sami pridelamo hrano zase (obstajajo načini kako lahko to storimo tudi v mestu) in podpiramo okolišnje kmete, ki hrano pridelujejo na primern način.

  --Da spoznamo ljudi, ki so različni od nas in da organiziramo lokalne projekte in proslave, ki bi bile sad teh zamisli.

  --Da spodbujamo majhna lokalna podjetja, katera vodijo in so v lasti tam zaposlenih.

  --Da se naučimo mnogo jezikov in sklepamo prijateljstva z ljudmi, ki te jezike govorijo.

Mnogi izmed nas to že počnemo, le da si tega morda še nismo priznali. In to so naše nove poti – onstran vojne ekonomije. Živimo v vznemerljivem času!

Naš največji zaklad so otroci


Otroci sveta so tisti, ki bodo rasli, da bi našli rešitve za probleme in neuporabnosti v katere nas je postavila nasilno/prisilna družba. Cel svet potrebuje otroke, ki bodo iznajdljivejši in bolj usmerjeni v povezovanje, kot je to počela naša generacija.

Del tistega časa in energije, ki ga uspemo odvrniti od v dobiček usmerjene ekonomije lahko vlagamo v povečevanje domiselnosti otrok.

Lahko opazujemo otroke, kako raziskujejo svet in se o njem učijo. Otroci s pridom izkoristijo pozornost odraslih, da bi zvedeli več o stvareh, ki jih zanimajo.

Vsake pol ure,ki jo posvetite otroku – le s tem, da ga tiho opazujete med njegovim raziskovanjem in mu pomagate kot on sam želi – bo družbi mnogokrat povrnjeno v jasnejšem mišljenju in večji iznajdljivosti, ki ju bo ta otrok premogel. Boljšega plačila si ne morete želeti!

Sčasoma se bomo odrasli sposobni posvetiti vsakemu otroku, vsak dan, uro ali več, celotno našo pozornost. Šola bo resnično drugačna in videli bomo kako domiselni lahko odrastejo, na načine, ki si jih nismo niti predstavljali. Živimo v vznemerljivem času!

Namerno preusmerjanje dohodkov


Zo so nekateri izmed možnih načinov, s katerimi lahko namerno usmerimo osebne dohodke v prijaznejšo ekonomijo –torej v mir na Zemlji. S tem, ko manj zaslužimo in manj porabimo lahko tisti čas in energijo s katerim se sicer okorošča današnja ekonomija preusmerimo drugam.

Tudi tisto kar vam je najtežje lahko z vajo premagamo. V ta namen se zavestno postavimo v določeno situacijo.

Kar nekaj let sem živela v 8m dolgi kamp prikolici na parkirišču. To je bil dober razlog, da sem se znebla veliko »šare«, ki je v resnici nisem potrebovala. Ĉe sem žella kupiti kaj novega, sem morala nekaj drugega zavreči, sj ni bilo dovolj prostora. Naučila sem se vprašati: »Ali res potrebujem to?« in »Mi to res pomeni več kot tisto, kar bi morala zavreči?«

Spet drugič sem se urila v »vem kaj hočem«. Hodila sem na sprehode po soseski in se na vsakem vogalu vprašala kam hočem zaviti. Včasih sem bila že na serdi ulice, ko sem se zavedla, da sem se zmotila. Obrnila sem se in odšla v drugo smer!

Pogovorite se s prijatelji o življenjskih ciljih, ki bi vas zanimali; poleg dobre plače. Začnite z majhnimi koraki. Ko boste enkart začeli, boste lahko ugotovili, ali vas to dovolj osrečuje. Ĉe je odgovor pritrdilen lahko v svoj cilj usmerite več energije.

Ĉe skupaj s svojimi prijatelji »prihranjeno« energijo usmerjate v iste cilje, bo to enkratna priložnost, saj boste lahko skupaj o njih razmišljali in drug drugega spodbujali z izzivi. Živimo v vzenmirljivem času!