My dear friends I know this is an odd title for this next topic; a topic in which I would like to discuss the discrepancies between a class based and a community based society.
Class based SocietyYou may be thinking of the caste system in India when I say class based, or perhaps even feudal Europe, but I highly doubt you would be thinking of modern day America. Even if you would consider our nation within the limits of this classification, you might think it still better than other nations since our classes rest between the poor and the rich; after all America is the land of opportunity, so whose to say the poor of yesterday aren't the rich of today.
I will give you the fact that yes, a poor man has the capacity to rise, but have you considered that perhaps if the poor were secure of their ability to survive in this world, they would keep their way of life similar to what they already achieve just less the woes of money. I have found that money, though a neutral entity, can just as easily have a negative impact on our lives while being perceived as positive. Allow me an example to clarify.... So there is this somewhat poor, not totally destitute man who goes to a tax prep agent to have his taxes done. Walking out of the building he is some $300 richer (which if you know anything about those places is equivalent to a high interest loan to be paid back with an arm and a leg) for the time being, but upon paying back the tax prep agent with the tax refund he actually gets, it turns out that he is worse off than he was. So you see in his mind that was a wise decision because he had money for the moment, but in reality if he had just sat down and read the little tax book carefully he could have saved himself the preparers fee and the interest. It is this mind set of the somewhat poor that will eventually be the downfall of their lifestyle. It is unsustainable. Even on their meager wages one could become financially secure. Note I say secure not successful. I do believe that there is a tyranny in success. It is the pressure of the wealthy to be
rich. To live lavishly, to be that person in society, probably all the while being untrue to themselves. Such is a product of a class based society.
Origin of the class based societyIn all honesty I can sum this up in one sentence but to make certain I am perfectly understood, I will give it more room to breathe. Private property has created the class based society. (there it is in one sentence and now I will explain why) With the creation of private property, there was a creation of mine and yours. With that manifestation there are inherently differences between mine and yours. These differences are eventually what culminated in classes. Prior to private property, everyone was feasting or famishing together. There was a commonality between the one person and the other. They were part of a community. They were connected, and yet I believe still free to be individuals. I will discuss the competition between community and individualism later on in this blog.
The starkest, most visceral example of the sudden change between community and private property can be seen in places like Africa, when trade reached it coasts, and also in our own history in that of the Native Americans and what the overwhelming push for one's own piece of creation did to their way of life.
Communal SocietyI would like to say right off the bat that I am NOT an advocate of communism. Community and communism are two very different things. They focus around the same concept but communism is far to extreme to be beneficial in this world of gray.
I believe that community is an ingredient this country is sorely lacking in it melting pot.
Community as defined by Webster's Dictionary:
- any group living in the same area or having interests, work etc. in common; the general public; a sharing in common (2003)
- society; common possession (c.1877)
Again I would like to draw attention to the discrepancies between the 19th and 21st century definitions for the word community. Have you ever considered that if people helped one another - were in community with one another - the world would be a far better place. Do you not see how vehicular traffic, wealth discrepancies, and cultural differences have torn our sense of community as ravenously as an eagle shreds it prey. Think again of the example I used above of the Native Americans. As they accepted technologies they became dependent on those technologies rather than on their knowledge, and so were tyrannized by success (technology, successful trade in their case as well). [NOTE: I like technology, I just think it is abused today to do some of the basic things that we really don't even need it for just are too lazy to do ourselves]
Community and Individualism
Above I had brushed lightly over this topic, but now I would delve into it further. Let us again start on a common basis by referring to Webster's Dictionary:
- individuality; the doctrine that the state exists for the individual; the leading of one's life in one's own way. (2003)
- individual existence or essence (c. 1877)
Somehow, I am not surprised to again find discrepancies between the centuries. But let us go further. Comparing these definitions, in their respective centuries, to the above mentioned definitions for community, we may easily draw the following conclusions.
- Even while being individual, there is a greater separation of people (and therefore of minds, and society) in the 21st century then in the 19th.
- In the 21st century definition, the "state" is mentioned as being for the individual. Though the government is not mentioned at all in the 19th century definition I would like to argue that the state being for "the individual" goes entirely against what our founding fathers set up this nation to be. Is it not proven by the preamble of our own constitution: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America" (I have bolded the non- individualistic key words in the Preamble)
- May it also be of note that the 19th century definition is one of independence yes, but more of a self-sufficient independence. (individual existence or essence= not reliant on anyone for what gives you existence, yet that does not mean that you are individual to the point of being separate from your community)
This is how I can that when there were once community societies, there were still individuals. There was not a competition between them. In our individualistic society today, however, if there were a strong force of community, it would be a battle in our own subterfuge society because the idea of community (as I perceive it) is so totally at war with individualism as it exists today.
What I would like to suggest to you today is that if people helped one another, then perhaps the poor would have a better, happier condition of living than the rich. Perhaps having only enough money to get by, but having the regions wealth in friends, good neighbors, and commonality with ones surroundings, would become the new rich. The true rich. I know for a fact that money cannot buy happiness, but more often brings with it greater suffering than one can see from the shiny exterior. True wealth, True success lies in things not related to money. It lies in relationships, in hard work, in perseverance, and in a community not only with ones surroundings but with one's God. That is the most important factor yet.
