New stories: When The Economics Of
Happiness Meets The Desperation Of Not Having
Healthcare
23 April 2012
By Jane Stillwater
Last week I attended an "Economics of Happiness"
conference here in Berkeley and heard Charles
Eisenstein speak. "I see the world shifting from a
profit-taking economy to a gift economy, from an
economy of 'how can I take the most?' to 'how can I
best give of my gifts?' This future, in which the
anxiety of 'making a living' no longer drives us, will
arise out of the transformation in the human sense of
self that is gathering today." http://www.ascentofhumanity.com/text.php
Eisenstein also talked about how the availability of
unlimited resources has now come to an end. "A
monetary system based on growth is now obsolete," and
we can no longer destroy resources at will without
suffering dire consequences.
"It's like my son Jimmy, who grew two inches one year
and five inches the next. This was appropriate to his
age. But to continue to grow two inches a year for the
rest of his life? Not appropriate. And now that he has
reached adulthood and no longer grows, what should we
do? Frack him?"
Eisenstein next talked about "old stories" and "new
stories". "Economies based on money and material
growth have become 'old stories,' ones that simply
don't work any more." And a new story, based on the
economics of happiness, is becoming more common as
monetized economies continue to fail and become
obsolete.
Eisenstein next described his idea of a gift economy,
based on meeting basic mutual needs through
cooperation. "That's why poor people can sometimes be
happier than rich people -- because the poor need to
gift each other in order to survive; this gifting
process then creates a bond; and bonding leads to
happiness."
Eisenstein could be right about this, although since
I've never been rich, I'm not in any position to
compare. However, a recent world-wide "happiness"
index showed that materially-deprived Cuba is
currently ranked number seven on the happiness scale
-- while materially successful America is now ranked
114, far below even Israel and Palestine, and even
below Iraq and the DRC.
But what exactly does a gift economy look like? I
found a perfect example of one last week while
attending a four-day "Remote Area Medical" event at
the Oakland Coliseum http://www.ramusa.org, when
hundreds of medical professionals offered up their
time and knowledge for free so that over 4,000
patients without health insurance could be seen and
treated.
That's 1,100 treatments per day.
Cavities were filled, eyes were examined, medical
diagnoses were made, etc. Acupuncture, chiropractic,
you name it, was provided. It was AMAZING.
As one medical provider stated, "R.A.M. was first
designed to provide these services to people in
third-world countries -- but it soon became obvious
that, if you could not afford health insurance,
medical care in America was at the same level as most
of the Third World. And so R.A.M. started coming to
the United States as well. Our politicians should be
ashamed that they've let the quality and availability
of American healthcare sink so low that R.A.M has to
pick up the slack."
This medical professional had just volunteered to
spend her entire weekend gifting her community. And
was she happy about it? You bet!
PS: I got to the Coliseum too late to get my teeth
looked at (the lines for that service had started
forming four days before) but a trailer staffed by
Volunteers of America was still offering free HIV
testing -- so I did that instead.
A VoA staff member swabbed my mouth, let my saliva sit
in a test kit for 20 minutes and then told me I didn't
have HIV. "Have you used any dirty needles or had sex
recently?" No and no.
"HIV is only transmitted through blood, semen and
per-ejaculatory liquids, vaginal fluids and breast
milk," I was told.
"But what about through saliva?" Usually not -- unless
there's a cut in the mouth.
AIDS and HIV treatments have changed a lot in the last
20 years. "There are now medications that, if patients
keep taking them regularly, can allow them to lead a
fairly normal life." That's incredibly good news. "But
uninfected people still need to take precautions to
avoid being exposed to the HIV virus -- such as not
using dirty needles and always using condoms."
Next, apparently in the spirit of the economics of
happiness, the VoA staffer then gifted me with a whole
handful of condoms. "Sorry, but my glory days of
creating that kind of happiness are long past," I
sadly replied.
PPS: Here are some examples of how to change all our
dreary old stories into new, better and more
appropriate ones:
Old story: Modern man's brave conquest of nature is
achieved by heroically chopping down every tree in
sight and putting a car or two in every driveway. And
exactly why is this old story now obsolete? Scientific
American has just announced that global warming will
be irreversible in just eight years unless we
immediately change our outmoded ways. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=global-warming-close-to-becoming-ir
New story: Nature is our friend. We protect her and
she protects us. Stop driving. Buy locally. Plant
trees. The Lorax is back!
Old story: My sister apparently hates me and I, in
response, tend to hate her right back.
New story: My sister loves and forgives me and I love
and forgive her too. (Realistically, however, it
doesn't look like this particular fairy tale is gonna
come true any time soon -- but it should. One can
hardly tell a new and hopeful story about having peace
in the world when one is still having difficulties
even loving and/or forgiving one's very own sister.)
Old story: Eva Kor and her twin sister were brutally
starved and tortured at Auschwitz, victims of Josef
Mengele's notorious twins project.
New story: Kor chose to forgive her tormentors -- and
then she did. "Forgive your worst enemy. It will heal
your soul and set you free." Kor then established the
CANDLES Holocaust Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana.
"CANDLES strives for the elimination of hatred and
prejudice from our world. CANDLES pursues this goal
through education about the Holocaust and the power of
forgiveness." http://www.candlesholocaustmuseum.org/index.php?sid=57
The elimination of hatred? That's a new story we could
all use. Or, to paraphrase Eisenstein, "As the shell
of our old world cracks, then new light can shine in
-- and the only antidote to despair is to hope. If we
are to continue to survive as a species, we must
constantly invent new stories of hope."
PPPS: My friend Barbara just sent me a link to her son
Jake's live-streaming video from his Occupy Wall
Street current location. Yay Jake! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jrozlive
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