In a CR2 approach to Community, we borrow from older ways and other cultures. We even borrow concepts from the corporate world (we’ll explain that one in a minute).
In generations gone by, there was a much stronger emphasis on shared resources. Farmer Bob would lend a farm implement to Farmer Bill. Jane would share an occasionally used colander with Jill. Stereotyping aside (two farmers and a hint at two housewives … stay-at-home parents in today’s language), the idea of sharing was relatively commonplace. That was the era this author grew up in (yes, I am in the grey hairs department). That level of sharing was normal in that day and age.
Sometimes, we might need to import juice grapes from California for the local winemakers. So we would order in a refrigerated trailer load of grapes (the area we were in hadn’t yet developed a robust grape growing industry). Or, if we needed potatoes, a few families might get together and get a pickup load of “spuds.” Our bulk buying from the farmer paid off for all of us and he was happy for an easy sale with little time and effort.
In the corporate world, there is a good reason to share resources, such as a departmental printer. You know–the printer running an 1800-page report before your boss’s insistence on a YAP Report (Yet Another Priority Report … at his normal warp speed of a Jack Russell Terrier). Normally, the shared resource is far cheaper. Or, perhaps one branch does all the repair things to save other branches from buying way too many tools. Yes, we know the tool problem can be a guy thing.
In these examples, two things are happening:
Nowadays, our society takes this to another level with super-sized farms or agribusiness. Mind you, producers and middlemen then need to run trucks very long distances and use a bunch of other so-so products to make this work. Stuff like artificial fertilizers and GMO-whatever to help you glow in the dark and transform us into pill-poppers. Big trucks. Enormous warehouses. Lots of plastic. Lots of hidden greenhouse gases buried in the overall approach. This often forces families into the rat race and longer commutes. Then bolt on daycare (if you can get it). Then bolt on more taxes-paid. Then … well, you get the idea!
“Back in the day,” we did things at a more local level. That’s an important factor. Long distance everything, long distance trading, is an expensive game.
If you have more shared resources close by in a village, other benefits can emerge. Community halls. Shared greenhouses. Larger places to work on crafts or hobbies. Places for visiting family members or friends to stay and have a family reunion meal together. Simpler approaches to life. Like, guys, do you really think that you need to overhaul your quad ATV engine for hunting in the living room because the garage is so full of tools and hunting gear? Maybe you could have done some of that in a shared place where your oil drips aren’t a problem. That assumes that a shared shop is available … we know that need.
Other cultures, historically, did things this way. So did the Indigenous peoples in their own way. Check out the European villages not mired down in the urban race. Check out smaller farming communities in the Americas. The general pattern has not entirely fled. But we have reduced our reliance on Community in pursuit of individualism.
The pattern we have diverged from is to share in Community. We have departed from an Old way that was working and replaced it with something New.
Once we move away from the collective approach, we end up with a bunch of challenges. We end up having bigger houses to fit all the “required” stuff. Our monthly financial needs increase. We end up being slaves to a system: The System.
Worse, we become enslaved to a new definition of what is normal.
Our Publications dive into this at depth. Check them out!
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