The single most lacking element in politics, government, and business is community. In my former profession, economics, there was and is a glaring absence of community values in the decision process. And not just human communities; Biological and animal communities matter also. Problems like prejudice, violence, exploitation,….wither in the face of widespread respect for the community of others.
A story of unfounded expectations. A coworker and I were at a gathering unrelated to our work. We worked for a well noted research and development firm. Both of us engaged in test and development of ground breaking ideas. Upon revealing our respective employment my coworker was asked what she did expecting an answer of intelligence and intrigue. Without skipping a beat she informed the asker the she was the janitor for the womens bathrooms. She went on to say how she was instrumental in the viability of the company as without clean and sanitary restrooms the advent of disease would likely inhibit all of the research that was being done there. Talk about hearing a pin drop. She did this several times during that gathering and it took all I had in me to play along. Each and every time the asker would move on to another person and leave us alone.
When I go through the local walmart, I see the clerks struggling to keep up with it all, and I thank them as I see them. It brightens their day, and mine also as they see that someone appreciates what they are doing. It is so apparent that hardly anyone gives a damn about the common people who make things work for all the rest of us.
