If Something Horrible Happens, I Hope We're Together

You get the feeling something horrible is going to happen, don’t you? Something to the world, right? Well of course you do. You have likely borne witness to all kinds of terrible news about the world today. You get all kinds of horrible news delivered straight to you from the Internet. At least, I do.

If something horrible happens, I hope we’re all together. Or at least, united in our own little communities. Yeah, it’s corny. But where has being nihilistic and cynical gotten us? It’s gotten me nowhere.

Some of us are already together. Some of us have strong communities, perhaps through churches, schools, gyms, or skate-parks. But most of us aren’t part of communities. We just peer through our windows, hoping the neighbours don’t spot us. I don’t mind if you see me.

The reasons for our lack of togetherness are many. Over the years, individualistic thinking has permeated Western societies, and beyond. Is it just the result of progress? Perhaps it is. Our species has been struggling with it since the dawn of industrialisation. I only started thinking about it in my 20’s.

Individual units are great for the system at hand. Individuals compete against each other. This optimises value in the system, without the system needing to contribute anything itself. Most people strive within the system, not against it. Don’t hate the player, hate the game, the saying goes. Well I think if a game sucks, quit it and change the cartridge.

I don’t know what horrible thing could happen. But it could happen. And it will be challenging. We will not want to be alone when it happens. We will not want to be going through it alone. And together, we will realise who makes up the system.

If the system scares me, the does too. If we alter the system, who will lose out? Will supply chains be disrupted? Will markets be spooked, and accounts collapse? Because most of our money is made up. A stock value falling can collapse a company, a whole market, a country?

It is the instability of stock, bond, and other markets which, oddly enough, keep things stable. Don’t rile the markets, the prime minister or president begins. But something horrible could rile the markets, or collapse them, If they do collapse, we’ll need to be together. To comfort each other. To pour beer and make tea. I like mine brewed three minutes.

(Maybe I am just thinking of unionisation. If that’s it, we can go with that.)

Something horrible might happen. Not just to me, but to you, too. That’s why I want us to be together. If it affects us both, we don’t have to go it alone. We’ll need it each other. It’s called solidarity, and they hate it. They want us to continue on, and convince us that we just didn’t work hard enough, convince us we’re individual failures. And if we are, let us be failures together.