February 20, 2022
HARMONY. That’s the ONE word that expresses the world I wish to live in. Yes… I want to LIVE. I’m tired of existing in a rat-race, broken system where people want to get off the wheel, feel trapped in cages, or powerless to do anything of their own might to fix the system. It’s time to break people free of the cages, and not just the literal ones holding kids on the US / Mexico border. Yes, that’s still happening.
I SEE a world where people are happy and thriving because they are giving and caring and working toward a collective common goal: Our Re-Creation.
I SEE a world where we can LIVE in Harmony with our inner selves, nature, and humanity at large.
- We’ve had the Renaissance
- We’ve had the Reformation
- We’ve had the Revivals
- We’ve had the Reconstruction
- We’ve had the Revolutions
How about we try something new? I believe it is time for our Re-Creation and our Recreation… “Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings. ~Led Zeppelin”. Yes, words matter. So do feelings.
Creation: The act of bringing the world into ordered existence.
The world exists but is so disordered. It is time to get organized. Collaboration is KEY in the 21st Century.
Recreation: (rec-re-a-tion) An act of leisure.
The need to do something for recreation is an essential element of human biology and psychology. FUN!!!
When I hear the word recreation, I think of a place I spent summers as a child. “Recreation” was offered for children in the town of West Bridgewater, Massachusetts to spend the day in a safe, enjoyable environment while parents went off to work or took a break from child care.
As an introvert, I do not do well in groups, but I LOVED recreation. There was something for everyone to have FUN! There was sports for the natural athletes, crafts for the natural creatives, and field trips galore to lots of fun and educating places! At the end of each day, you got to take one piece of candy from a big pail and that ONE piece was enough. I loved the root beer barrels.
I still FEEL warm and fuzzies inside when I think of those summer days in my youth playing outdoors at “Recreation”. I knew what FUN was then. It was simple things like a piece of chalk, a jump rope, or even just my hands and another willing person to play “Oh Lady Mack”. As an adult, I now find FUN challenging. We have lost focus on the things that made us FUN people. We have phased out things like music, art and sports in school budgets where the process of creating FUN and collaborative exploration of our human potential all begins.
Warm and fuzzies is what I want it to FEEL like as we re-create us. We don’t need to tear down and start from scratch. We just need to remember and reconnect with the goodness that we already ARE. We don’t need to race to win. We need to relax and re-focus our Vision.
Here are three examples of what I imagine is possible in a Harmonious World. What do you imagine is possible?
Harmony in the Schools
It looks like “Recreation” did. Learning through ALL modalities inside and outdoors, exploring through field trips and hands on experience, but better than “Recreation” because it is not about childcare, it’s about child investment. It’s about exposing children to everything we have to offer of Value so they can find their way. It’s about allowing children to discover their place of Value in our World by fostering their natural inner strengths and gifts to come forth. Every one of us has a gift. No longer will it be a misfortune that some of us never get to shine and show it.
It truly breaks my heart to think of the children who are happy, joyous and free in elementary school who later on in middle and high school, realize they do not have what it takes academically. I have watched what has happened to some of my children’s friends. It is not pretty. I believe we lose many children to their own loss of self-worth and inner sense of Value because we focus too much on academic skills. It’s an unnecessary tragedy and an expense on society in more ways than one.
In a re-created World, the joker on the playground is of the same Value as the introverted thinker. The joker does not want to get deep and serious. They want the analytical folks to handle that role. The introvert has no desire to be in the spotlight making people laugh and they SO need the jokers to help bring them out from their depths to laugh.
I see a world where the jokers are working collaboratively to create the greatest scripts to make the World laugh! I see people leaving theatres after a comedy with bellies that hurt from laughing so hard. Do you remember the last time that happened? Does it happen once a decade for you? Not even? Wouldn’t it be great if you got the Value you paid for your ticket and it happened EVERY time? Such things are possible with collective collaboration and holding dear the Value of making people laugh. Everyone knows Laughter is good for the soul!
Harmony in the Work Force
It is not about trying to get “ahead” of the other guy. It is about showing up where YOUR Value is and serving it Completely. It is about feeling connected to a collective, co-created goal like parts of a clock needing to work in synchronicity for the clock to strike the next hour. No ONE piece is any more important than another. They are ALL necessary components for the clock to work.
When we invest in our world’s infrastructure, the engineers and the laborers should hold the same Value. No engineer wants to do the hard physical work of a laborer and no laborer wants to understand the complexity of engineering a bridge, but in order for humanity to get from Point A to Point B, both roles are essential and should be compensated accordingly.
Harmony in Capitalism
We need to re-create what it means to be a Valued corporation, Valued employee, and Valued customer. “Earnings” calls need to become about more than “earnings”. They need to become “Value” calls. For those who may not be aware, “Earnings” calls happen regularly to update investors about the financial state of a business. We need to re-shape these calls into a more well-rounded assessment of a business where Five Factors of Value are deemed equally important, including:
- Financial Health: This remains important but is no longer the primary indicator of Value. It is unrealistic to expect companies to continually be on an upward growth path. There is something to be said for consistency, and even setbacks that taught us something. We need to understand there are perhaps caps in what a company can contribute to our capitalist system and plan and adapt for it. How many business have reached their cap and then started to cut quality and increase demands on their workforce only to suffer as a result and go out of business, including companies and services we once valued?
- Quality, Quality, Quality: There can be no more reducing quality in order to force numbers in an upward climb for investors. We offer products and services we Value and we Value it because Highest Quality is the expectation and NO less.
I cannot tell you how many products I’ve bought with defective packaging from top name companies whose products I value. I’ve also experienced numerous phony internet scams where I’ve been duped into purchasing products I truly would have valued that never came or were nothing like what I ordered. I’ve experienced internet services riddled with bad business practices and fraud. These things cannot continue.
Independent companies should perform audits to measure this Factor but not just to tell a company what’s wrong. They also should provide recommendations and coaching on how to improve. The audits are in no way fear-based and are entirely to help the company be all it can be. A company should have sufficient time to review and respond to the audit and their corrective action plan can weigh into the overall measurement of this Factor. - The Worker: We truly care about showing up to our roles because we stand behind our company and it’s products or services. We are motivated, productive and enthusiastic because we’re doing what makes us happiest to contribute to society. We are Valued by our employers and they compensate us accordingly.
There are ratio caps in the capitalistic pay scale for CEO to Entry Level employee. If a CEO wants to give themselves a $5 million raise next year, fabulous! The standard ratio needs to remain in effect with a raise of proportional size distributed to the entire workforce accordingly. This provides CEOs with the Best and Highest Valued workforce making their company excel and motivating employees to contribute in that shared goal.
Stock options are not a thing. Stock grants are standard annually to all employees based on the financial health of the company the prior year. Everybody wants to do more, be more and thrive more collectively.
Finally, ethics policies are something that go both ways. A company will be ethically responsible for abiding by fair compensation ratios and providing you with the best health insurance available regardless of health conditions. We are proud to work for companies and they treat us right, even when life’s challenges come our way, because we contribute our Valued time and share our Valued skillsets. We are never asked to withhold or keep secret the unethical business practices of a company for protection purposes. The “See something. Say something.” rule is followed up with action towards changing what is unethical, not sweeping it under the rug or hiding it. Transparency and Truth need to matter… even the ugly Truth. Awareness and admittance is simply adult accountability and the first steps required toward change.
We review our employers anonymously through an independent third party contractor to measure the Value companies are providing for their workers, and to allow workers to safely express if they are still doing what they Value. Growth and transitions are carefully planned for and encouraged, including transitioning to another company if you’ve outgrown what the company or position offers. There is NO holding anyone back from fulfilling their Highest dreams because achieving those dreams helps the collective. - The Customer: The customer Values us and our products. They want to keep coming back for more because we offer the Highest Quality. They experience happy, enthusiastic people who are doing what they LOVE and being compensated appropriately for it.
We Value those customers by offering them annual stock grants or purchase incentives based on a ratio of their purchases history the prior year. This motivates customers to capitalize on their own investments in the growth of the wonderful company they Value. They’ll want to keep purchasing!
In order to get their incentives, customers simply need to provide a review. The reviews are used as a measurement of satisfaction and Value being offered to customers. It should not matter if the review is negative or positive. All feedback helps a company deliver higher quality and better service. There are plenty of great review systems already available to us. Those need to become more than informational and be deemed true Value ratings. - Philanthropic Contribution: Every company is expected to contribute in their community or to the World at large. There is so much that needs repair in our World. It is up to US to get to work. ALL of us. Every worker should have a paid volunteer opportunity to contribute their heart’s calling to the healing of our World. Even the retired can choose an opportunity to serve and receive tax breaks. I sure do miss the old lady whose only job at Walmart was to stand at the entrance and happily say “Welcome to Walmart!”
Volunteer work is where we connect to our goodness. It is where we re-connect with compassion and love by showing up where help is dearly needed and appreciated. Maybe some folks really connect to nature and can help clean up the earth. Maybe some don’t have an 8 year psychology degree but people love to tell them their problems. Their listening, compassionate, gentle-mannered demeanors might make them great people to assist with the ever growing mental health crises in our country.
Reviews should be submitted by both the volunteer and organization served to assess the Value the company provided in the volunteer opportunity. Heart Happiness should be the scale of measurement. All of us want to be helped in some way and all of us have gifts to share. When we take the time to reconnect with our selfless selves through service, we reconnect with a meaningful part of ourselves where we feel like we Matter. That makes us Feel better and Be better people and workers. It’s a simple domino effect.
Where do we start? Well for starters, I suggest we abolish our own tax loopholes. How many of you get statements from “Delaware” corporations? None of them pay taxes. That’s right. The news seems to focus on illegal offshore tax shelters, but what about the fact our first state is a tax shelter for businesses who don’t do business in the tiny state of Delaware if they incorporate there. Frankly, I’m not sure there’s even enough real estate there for them to do so. Think your BIG name companies paying ZERO taxes. All companies should be contributing at the same base tax rate with incentives for breaks solely based on how the company is performing with the Five Factors of Value. Those with the highest scores on all Five Factors of Value should receive the most tax breaks for exemplifying and making possible the Harmony we all desire.
The financial crisis dramatically exposed the dangers of what I call the lie of scarcity: the mindset that tells us we can never have enough and drives us to drive above all and against all for more and more. ~Lynn Twist, The Soul of Money
Perhaps the idea of scarcity exists because we were hell bent on super-sizing everything. I think we have confirmed “It is the Little things that Matter”. Now it’s Time to Act upon what we learned and Re-Create our disordered World into one where Harmony reigns because we desire it, deserve it, and deliberately choose to make it happen no matter how challenging the transition.
I, for one, do NOT believe in the lie of scarcity or limitations. I believe when we all contribute our Fair Value and work together, there is NO limitation in the World we can Re-Create. I see a symphony of souls moving towards a shared goal of Value in all that is Good IN us and FOR us because we are being led by our moral compass and not the Almighty Dollar. We FEEL we are Enough, and there IS enough for Everyone because we are focused on having just Enough… like ONE piece of candy. Everything is flowing like a synchronistic stream of energizing music propelling us towards a World where we LIVE for the Highest and Best for ALL.
Every one of us wants the same things deep down, and I believe that is to LIVE, not exist, in Harmony with other living beings and our planet. Matter is what we ARE. Matter we do. I desire to re-create our World in such a way that we actually FEEL like we Matter. ~Debra
The Calling 