There is only one way up, however there are billions of horizontal paths. Why, o why, do we all dream of going up?
The world, my world, is obsessed with being rich, famous, powerful. These goals are seen as the only acceptable way to happiness, satisfaction, fullfillment.
Can we all be rich, as in money-rich? I doubt it.
Can we all be famous, as in Vogue-cover-famous? Not possible.
Can we all be powerful, as in red-button-holder-powerful? Nope.
What then? What is the way to happiness? To peace? To bliss?
Dunno.
However I know, that every hill, forrest and lake in my country holds a fairytale story, a gnome, a poking dragon, a two-headed snake, a golden frog, a talking-lizard, a disappearing beauty, a babbling ghost, an enchanted ladybird, a sleeping king, a bearded eagle, a crowned gekko, a portal of eternal life, ginny in a lamp, a legend, a mystery, well, you see, there’s richness everywhere. Yet kids in this country fancy Smurfs, Cars, Toy-story, Batman, Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, Winxs, Star Wars and other mega-global-comic characters. And they don’t know the local stories anymore.
The above mentioned local stories are forgotten because there is a lack of storytelling. Lack of storytelling is due to a lack of storytellers, and lack thereof is due to a lack of interest, all in all resulting in a lack of positive reinforcement between the teller and the listener. It is a consequence of a stronger signal coming via electronic media, via technology. This creates a monopolisation and monoculturisation of minds, which boosts efficiencies of vertical growth, however it depletes the horizontal richness of the world.
As with stories the same happens to industries, jobs, products, cities, civilisation in general. Vertical is beating horizontal.
Essentially, this is a fight between money and values. Maximisation of monetary value comes from economies of scale, the bigger the better. In terms of values size doesn’t matter. What does matter is for the values to practiced, not just spoken about. Modern world is full of talk about values, but still, it is more important to earn millions of dollars, than to help millions of people.
The values I’m talking about here are virtues. I will not list them, you should. To help you in this task, let me give you the first hint. The first and most important virtue in our lives, the one that takes us to all other virtues is LOVE.
Kind regards from sLOVEnia