Self Worth

The other day, I heard that there is a different type of success that is not monetary.  Apparently the internet has spawned many people's ambition in making videos, writing, commenting, networking, etc.  So the younger generations are growing up with this stuff and it may cause them to measure their self worth by what they contribute rather than how much money they make.  I would like to explore this self worth a bit.

Long ago in the 1800's  there was a man who had no money but claimed to be Emperor.  Emperor of what you may ask?  Why Emperor of the country where he lived, the United States.  His name was Joshua Abraham Norton.  Ok, you may be grinning at this absurd information, but hear me out.  Norton was a business man who lost it all and became mentally unbalanced, and called himself Emperor of the United States.  Now this man may have well be a bar fly or a colorful character in San Francisco if it wasn't for his decrees and his money.  He issued both.  Who knows why, but his monetary notes were honored in San Francisco.  One of his decrees was that there should be a bridge and a tunnel that would enable travelers to travel across the San Francisco bay.  Both exist today.  Norton found self worth.  He had to give up money to be his self worth, and instead made himself important to himself and to his community.  This is the type of self worth we are seeing growing in the internet today.  Hopefully nobody will declare themselves Emperor of anything.

What do we have in the internet to make people contribute?  There's youtube, twitter, facebook, google+, and many other sites that are social in nature.  I write, so I use Scribd.com to let people read my work.  I don't expect to make money off of it.  I just like people reading my work.  I also write this blog.  It's fun, and it helps me hone a skill that helps me professionally.  I also get a thrill that people read my blog.  Its the stats that I look at.  I find self worth in writing and contributing to people's lives.

If this alternate self worth perpetuates and continues to grow, what could the future look like?  Perhaps we will have a utopian society like that in Star Trek as envisioned by Gene Roddenberry.  I can see a society where your contribution to society is not compensated in money but in food, shelter, and transportation.  Where the average person does not need money to survive.  If everyone contributes to their employment, and that effort is coordinated, why would anyone need to rely on money to live?  It's hard to imagine.  It's hard to conceive of it, but John Lennon sang of it in Imagine.  Some say that this is communism, but I beg the differ.  Russian, Chinese, and Cuban communism were not like this.  Marx wrote of a utopia society, but he also wrote how that would come about in his mind.  That was the communist manifesto.  I think the utopian society is not inherently Marxist, even though Marx wort about it.  No, I think it's an innate idea in all of us.  I believe it to be also written of in the book of Revelation.  If what were seeing now as a change in self worth and were headed to a utopian society, then Marx was wrong in how we got there.  Today we see things that are small ecosystems of a utopian society.  These things include, insurance, food stamps, Social Security, Veterans Administration, Charity organizations,  employee benefits, etc.  You may not like the idea of a utopian society, but I think if employees were given their food, housing, and travel, then we wouldn't have a housing market collapse.

Self worth in the form of contribution is on the rise.  It may not be a bad thing and it may lead to a better future for all.  That is for all except the money grubbers.

Ain't One Of Us

Have you ever looked at a person and found they are not like you?  Discrimination is a big problem in today's world.  People are being discriminated based on sex, race, age, disability, learning ability or a number of other categories.  Why does this occur?  We all do it or think it.  I theorize that the problem is based on our outlook as humans.  The source of discrimination is the attitude people get that says "they ain't one of us".  When people take no group ownership of other people this causes discrimination.  We need to change our outlook of what our community actually includes in this day and age of global economy and global communication.

Its a matter of preserving the group or village.  Humans are community based entities.  We structure our society based on our concept of who we know and how we interact with them, whether it be practical interaction or cognitive empathy.  We naturally consider anyone or anything outside of the community as a potential threat.  We also show a blind eye towards the shortcomings of those in our community.  Therefore we have bias.  One of the first things we do with potential threats is that we demonize them.  We talk among our community and bad talk the potential threats.  Thus, this is where discrimination starts, and it evolves into hate and violence.

Modern man needs to expand his outlook and understand that everybody on the planet is part of his community . He needs to change his mind, from a mindset of living in just a local community to one that matches the structure of a global community working for the same thing.  Humans across the planet are generally working for freedom, economic success, and peaceful life.  We have disputes and wars, but these only stifle our efforts for our posterity.  It takes intelligence to recognize this, but it takes courage to do something about it. What are we really going to leave our sons and daughters with?

We all belong to one big village, Earth.  Look at the stars and count them.  Thus is the old old challenge to people and kids.  If you look at the sky through pictures of many space craft and telescopes eyes, you can see wonders beyond belief.  Super Novas, Gamma Ray Bursts, Nebulas, Super Black Holes are just a few wonders that are vastly greater than our planet.  If you haven't done so you might want to check it out at hubblesite.org.  You get the sense that Earth is an oasis in a desert of blackness and wild energetic stuff.  We are small, yet we are alive.  Earth is our planet and the people on it are our people.  If we are to continue as a society we must embrace this concept.  We need see how useless our petty infighting really is.  We must own all humans, animals, plants on Earth as our community, and as our village.

The realization that our community has expanded over the last 40 years can change our attitude towards others.  Our community is big and beautiful and its name is Earth.  We have global travel with the advent of the Jumbo Jet, and we have global communication with the internet.  We need to get rid of discrimination.  The first step to do that is to include everyone on the planet as part of your community.  This way you can interact with others with empathy.  This does not preclude steps you need to take to protect yourself.  You can empathize and protect yourself at the same time.  Empathy is the way to go.  In the area of relating to others, if you empathize you can engage people in a constructive way.  The time to change is now.


Disclaimer: This post is based on my opinions only.