We are Human; We Help Each Other

“‘Up in our country we are human!' said the hunter.” “‘And since we are human we help each other.  We don't like to hear anybody say thanks for that.  What I get today you may get tomorrow.  Up here we say that by gifts one makes slaves and by whips one makes dogs.’” ~Peter Freuchen

As we approach a critical national election, every time I turn on a media device and every time I empty the mailbox, I am bombarded with political advertisements.  Some tell me what the prospective candidate is going to do, but most tell me what the other candidate did or what they will do in the most negative light.  It has gotten to the point where I just blank it all out and hope that it does not bias my decision-making.  It seems to get worse every election cycle – the hatred, anger, scorn, and ridicule; the polarization that marks this country.  It seems over the last 30 years that we have lost our way, that we have forgotten that we are one people.

In past years, when faced with crisis, people would set aside their differences and band together to overcome it.  Today, we face a financial crisis in the United States.  The United States is adding enormous amounts of debt that will have profound effects on the livelihoods of our future generations.  We are printing currency at rates never seen before to keep the interest rates on government debt near 0%, threatening inflation as well as the means of those living on a fixed income.  As the country goes more deeply into debt and the dollar loses value, we run the risk of a large country like China calling in our debt, potentially damaging our economy or even our freedom.  Today, jobs are scarce and millions of people are out of work.  This squeezes the middle class - those who used to have professional or skilled manufacturing jobs that were lost in the latest recession have joined the ranks of the new poor.  They as a result are forced to compete with numerous others for low-paying jobs in the service industry, and often become chronically unemployed.

In response to this crisis, the average person in this country has entrenched in their polarized camps.  In one view, the Republican Party represents the top 1% who want to hoard what is theirs whereas the Democratic Party wants the rich to pay their fair share to continue to fund the necessary social programs to ensure our old, poor, sick, and young disadvantaged have food, clothing, shelter, a good education, and a chance for gainful employment.  In the other view, the Democrats squander money on pork-barrel projects and support deadbeats who feel entitled to have what others have without working for it, whereas the Republicans support low taxes and job growth by keeping government out of the way of growing businesses and allowing hard work to pave the way to The American Dream.  And that is just the economic question.  There are many other questions on social issues that add to the polarization.  What scares me the most is the fact that both parties and most of the candidates running for office have forgotten that in order to successfully face a crisis, everyone must make the sacrifices necessary and work together to face the crisis head-on.

Some cultures, for instance the Innuits and Eskimos, have not forgotten the essence of our humanity, which is to help each other unconditionally, raise each other up, and become collectively something much more powerful than a group of individuals.  Quoting David Graeber:

“Rather than seeing himself as human because he could make economic calculations, the hunter insisted that being truly human meant refusing to make such calculations, refusing to measure or remember who had given what to whom, for the precise reason that doing so would inevitably create a world where we began comparing power with power, measuring, calculating and reducing each other to slaves or dogs through debt.” [1]

I hope that as a people, we can all remember our basic humanity and when we enter the voting booth, we make our decision based on humanitarian reasons, not power, greed, and hate.  And once our decision is made, those whom we elect make their decisions in the same fashion.  More importantly, we need to remember our humanity on a daily basis, give without expectation of receiving, uplift those around us, and make the world a little better.  This will be one little step in the direction to dealing with the current crisis of confidence in this country.

[1]        David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years,  Melville House Publishing (2011)