Maggie's Farm

Contributing to the betterment of societal trust. Shouldering some of the burden personally toward making your immediate community a better place for both family and strangers, alike - and doing it anonymously avoiding any recognition or compliment.

What you are talking about, is not what I was talking about (although your things are important for the community too). We live in a high-trust society, comparatively. Not perfect, far from it. But we have good reason to believe that our institutions are nominally responsive - that emergency services will come when called, that we can fulfill our needs without undue effort, that we can get care and expertise when it's needed - that contingencies have been prepared and put in place. I've lived in many places where this isn't so, and these experiences have enlightened me a bit and made me contemplate what the pioneers and then settlers must have gone through. Tragedy, hardship, total loss and destruction was a common theme then. The exception was successful survival - for now. I think it's why the notion of the cooperative is a common thread pretty much everywhere in the US, you'll help me when I need it, and I'll do the same.

I find it amazing that we have such a strong undercurrent of cooperative volunteerism in a capitalist republic setting. Look at the responses from things like the Cajun Navy, working with the National Guard in hurricane emergencies. We trust this system unconsciously and without recognition most of the time. But we don't often consciously work to improve it in some way, even if it's small and uncredited. Most of the things mentioned here today go toward establishing and supporting the societal trust. Imagine living in a modern-city environment where you can't depend on the fire services or an ambulance, where the cops are guaranteed to be corrupt to all but the most powerful, where medical care may be there or may not, where the school teachers routinely don't show up, where food is not always handy, where banditry is rife. It puts you on edge 24/7 in a way I can't describe. Yes, this can accurately describe some of our worst urban problems, but generally - generally, we live in a high-trust society that most of us take for granted most of the time. My suggestion is that we step outside of that mentality and consciously, quietly, give back to make it better.

Right now our government does not inspire much trust. We have skulduggery in the highest offices that are supposed to be loyal by professional definition to the man they are attacking. We have borders that are not being protected from an invading mass of third-world opportunists. We have elected officials defying the wishes of their constituents and proposing to give away the national collective treasure without thought to cost or consideration of consequence. The elements of trust that implicitly support our society and have seen it through in past times of hardship, are being assailed. If you want to live in a high-trust society, you'll have to do something about it. That was my point. End of rant!