I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook. Maybe more than I should, however, it is an international public forum and it is interesting reading, watching, and becoming aware of the various perspectives on the world that people share. There is one theme that shows up frequently which is someone either extolling the virtues of capitalism vs socialism or someone else extolling the virtues of applying socialistic methods to some particular aspect of our society. Healthcare for instance. And there are those that condemn capitalism and presumably are promoting socialism, but maybe, if they don’t explicitly declare that they are, maybe they aren’t. Maybe they’re just fed up with the suffering that capitalism can leave in it’s wake.
What we are seeing today is that capitalism has become infected with the “greed algorithm”. Socialism has become infected by authoritarianism and the micromanagement of individual lives.
What I rarely have seen is someone extolling the third option.
G.K. Chesterton is quoted as saying: “The problem with Christianity is not that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.” That seems to be a common obstacle to humanity getting it right. The right thing is often not the easiest thing. It can require greater thoughtfulness, skill, patience, commitment. The right thing can also require more mutuality, trust, personal responsibility. There was a time when these virtues were commonly extolled. So what happened? When did so many people allow entitlement take the place of what are obviously essential traits? But I suppose that they’re only essential traits if humanity wants to survive in the long run.
The third option is free enterprise accompanied by socially consciousness, a sense of fairness, and a commitment to a healthy society as well as personal wellbeing. It seems to me that G.K. Chesterton’s observation can apply equally to this reality. And, actually, such a reality is in keeping with the values which Jesus taught. It is a fact that in order for our lives to have a context in which we as human beings can achieve our fullest potential, we need to have a harmonious, supportive, environment. Not one free of challenges, problems to solve, mountains to climb. But an environment in which we see each other as allies, as partners in life. The challenges, problems and mountains are ever present naturally within both our external, and internal, environment
If we as individuals and as a species cannot learn the art and science of living harmonious, healthful, vital lives concurrently with others doing the same, we are condemning ourselves to perpetual war, competition and all the physical, social, environmental, plagues that accompany such a misbegotten, diseased culture.
While we are as children within an immense and wondrous universe, that doesn’t mean we must act immaturely.
