I think you make some really good points here, Bob. I must admit that the
"generate our own future" model has significant appeal. Given the
intellectual and moral bankruptcy at the top, and the paralyzed inertia
resulting from the plight of the bottom, I think the "middle strata of the
Pyramid" are the key - and yes, opting out is highly appealing. I don't
necessarily mean "heading from the hills", but I _have_ often said that in
some ways we need a new Benedict of Nursia to come up with a sustainable,
separate community - sort of a mix between a monastery, boutique software
house and commune......
At 11:28 AM 3/15/00 +1300, you wrote:
>Brad and Ray - you are onto a fertile topic that needs further exploration,
>and perhaps a lot of discussion. For myself, the middle of the pyramid is
>frustrating - frustrating in the extreme. I can look upwards and see the
>corruption, the lack of discipline or organization, the greed, and the
>utter lack by so-called leaders of a sense that things could be better for
>all. I see strange and ugly personalities - those who abandoned others to
>advance their own fortunes, at the expense of others, at the expense of the
>environment, and at the expense of the long term future. Looking
>downwards, I see the disgraceful sad state of those caught up in poverty,
>lack of education, the unemployed, the underemployed, the mis-employed, and
>more. At my own level in the pyramid, I see others equally frustrated - we
>talk and we struggle to keep our level in the great game of life, but we
>are without significant resources, without encouragement from each other
>because we have been divided and conquered, without support from the top
>and bottom, and the result is that we become frustrated. We know that much
>can and must be done, some of us spend years trying to provide human
>services, to educate others, to plant trees or engage in all sorts of
>positive directions, but given the lack of leadership from the upper
>levels, and our own lack of resources, and our need to make a living, we
>cannot make much of an impact in the long-term direction of our societies
>and communities, in changing the systems that appear to be governing us, or
>even in defining exactly what it is that we should and could be doing to
>make the world a better place.
>
>
Marketing Manager
Faculty of Business, UTS
