We are the village
This is one of those ideas that has tickled at me from time to time. Years ago I tried to properly do something with it, which lasted a few months. But I can't quite let it go.
So you knew the old adage "it takes a village to raise a child" and it feels true and we all agree on it... and then we retreat to our nuclear families to get social epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. But, you know, at least we're doing it in private.
I'm not a parent, I have no desire to be a parent. I care a lot about kids, in general and some specific ones. I care about parents generally, in so far as they are people, and some specific ones. I understand this is not always the case for people who do not have children! I am not saying we should all care about children or their parents. I'm just interested in how to be interested, given that I am.
I'd also propose widening the scope to "it takes a village" to do most things. Raise a child, care for elders, look after sick people, support everyone's mental health, live sustainably, and so on. Life takes a village.
It's not about how I can benefit from the village but how I can be useful to the village. What can I contribute? Obviously the point is that not everyone needs to be contributing all the time but for me personally, where I am in life, I am able to contribute. How can I be a good, active, useful member of the village? What do people need and how can I help with that? In our atomised and insular society how do we overcome the barriers of asking and offering?
In my family we have a game of how we can blame Margaret Thatcher for things. If it predates Margaret Thatcher, enclosure. If it predates enclosure, the Normans. All of them deserve blame for how we ended up here. Margaret "there's no such thing as a society" Thatcher is an excellent start though. People are making money off this situation, this state of societal affairs. And I don't say corporations - people.
This is where I start to get properly angry but I'm going to say it anyway, because it's important: Four million children in the UK live in poverty. More than a million older people say they go over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member. Suicide is the single leading cause of death for men under 35. 134,210 households in England are homeless in temporary accommodation, including 176,130 children.
But we can do things! The village can step up. I can.
This is part of my recent thoughts on community: Thinking about community and Good community
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