‘How Wonderful, How Eccentric’
“To really change the world,
we have to help the people change the way they see thing.” - Suzy Kassem
During the Corona lockdown, some people worked from home, others worked hard in hospitals and nursing homes.
Some where temporary out of job, and at home alone or with family.
Some posted on multi-media, others where cleaning out their houses, working in the gardens.
The ritme of life changed, but did we really take the time to reflect, how to build our future?
One thing is fundamental, this is a ‘Wonderful time’ for those who can grasper the past to build a new future.
It makes no sense to put ourselves to cry, to sorrow, we can take the given experiences to build a new future wherever you live.
And questioning the new future, we slowly start to understand that it's not the quantity of products that makes one happy but the quality. And rebuilding our societies should be about ‘quality’.
But what is quality? Understanding that it's not greenwashing.
With respect it's about sustainability, fair and social. Fair towards Mother Earth with all her plants, animals, insects, mountains, air, water and humans.
A fair price for a product, how do we calculate it?
Let's try with an example.
Each and everyone must be paid a fair wage. But what is a fair wage? In some countries the minimum wage does not pay the rent, the food, the education and the healthcare,
because life standard on that particularly place is higher than the minimum wage of that country.
And this fair wage should be applied to all the persons from the zero existence of the product until the sales person, meaning, the farmer, the forwarder, the designer, the workers in the factory, the office people, the marketing people, the brand owners, the sales people, the shopkeepers, the delivery people, the cleaning staff in factories and wearhouses and so on and on.
But also important are the ingredients sustainable and with respect for plants animals, water, air…. ? And how are we going to define what is really sustainable? How can we communicate it with the consumers?
And what to do with the companies that only trade in countries but local don't pay taxes, they move the profits made, with bookkeeping constructions a look a like to avoid their social responsibility, although some of them claim to be sustainable.
In Belgium, on the 11th of mai shops opened after the lockdown, it was and is still slow in some of them, unfortunatly we see again that the ones who are moving their profits to avoid taxes are once again the favorites of the consumers.
How can ones see the positive in that? How ‘eccentric’ can this new world be to be build?
Perhaps we should communicate again that we are humans or citisens, and that we no longer should be adressed as consumers.
Consuming is a behaviour that humans/ civilian do.
Consumer and civilian are some kind a paradox. As civilian we see ourselfs as a part of a society, the ones we live in, and our first reaction is: what is in it for our group? But althought we are with ideals against chemicals, children labor, slavery and so on. The moment we become a consumer we start to think in a diffrent perspective, namely
‘Own sake’! What’s in for me?’
We are in continue contradiction as civilian and as consumer.
Civilians are against slavery and for correct paid salaries, and taxes.
Consumers want more for less.
Civilians, love the oceans, the air, the animals…
Consumers don’t think about the consequences from for example plastics, in water, for the fish, for birds and even for human bodies.
In the American Behavioral Economics study about this subject it became clear. 1000 people received the same questions. One group with the title ‘Citizen Response Study’ the other group ‘Consumer Response Study’. One word of difference made a whole other context.
The ones adressed as civilians where a hugh amount less selfish.
Also governments, they should understand that we are all civilians, and that civilians will go for the intrest of the group and the nature, consumers on the other hand will only go for their own intrests.
The civillian will go for love and love can strengten the group to overcome all difficulties.
I always state: a poplar never grows alone,
The stronger each poplar the stronger the row
And the stronger the row the stronger each individual poplar.
Building the future during and after Covid-19 will need strong civilians, strong individuals and strong societies. And they will understand that the future is not about quantity, but about quality.
That is the story of today ‘How wonderful, How eccentric’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/burger-consument-paradox-herman-verhagen/?originalSubdomain=nl
