Live Small and Prosper: Lessons to be learned from the recession Part 2

“There are lessons to be learned
from the economic crisis.

Perhaps the most significant
is that this troubled era
will force us to reconsider
how we define the good life.”

(Mindelle Jacobs, Time to Rethink American Dream)

It is the responsibility of humankind (not just Americans, as the title of the above article suggests), more important today than yesterday, to define the good life for ourselves - before we’re buried in it.


It isn’t our neighbour’s job to do it for us, even if his name is Jones, and we feel compelled to live up to his standards.

Or the media’s standards. Or our parent’s standard.

As well, it isn’t the government’s responsibility (though it plays a part), especially if they believe in pursuing constant economic and material growth and encourage us to spend our way to glory, or out of every predicament.

“I believe that most of the world’s conflicts
are less a function of the way people are,
and more about the way governments
and power-mongers are.

It’s my conviction
that the vast majority of people
on this planet would like
to be left alone
to live and work in peace,
to raise their families,
and to exist in a generous
and rational way.”

(Jeff Greenwald, A Sense of Place - see Read This, side margin)

I would just say, as we define or redefine the good life, that we keep it small and simple - so as many others as possible can raise their families in peace.

***

And if we don’t think more carefully about our place in this world, we will continue to walk through life as if blind.

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