I really enjoyed the fundamentals of this article. Yet, my mind kept coming back to one sentence: "I was excited to learn that one of the most promising social inventions that I've come across for building community is called the Gift Circle." This invoked the same feelings I had at meet in London of a bunch of 'innovators' last year. I was bemused and slightly irritated. I found myself thinking that we have a slew of middle class, well paid professional 'do-gooder's' doing research, developing social policy etc, who invest huge amounts of time and money effectively 'discovering' or 'inventing' systems that used to be intrinsic to how we live and are - in many places - still intrinsic. As Eisenstein himself says, in the days of old, this is how people lived. He also suggests that currently 'poor people' live this way (I prefer the term low-income - as he suggests, lacking money - but abundant in other resources). Good on the people in Marin for doing what they are doing - but they haven't 'invented' anything AND the real challenge to them and other people from the middle and upper classes trying to build community, I think, is moving beyond their own communities generally comprised of people who look and think like them - linking with others in order to co-create healthier, thriving, safe, clean, nurturing communities for everyone. That said, perhaps this is step one go get people heading in that direction...
ORIGINAL COMMENT
I really enjoyed the fundamentals of this article. Yet, my mind kept coming back to one sentence: "I was excited to learn that one of the most promising social inventions that I've come across for building community is called the Gift Circle." This invoked the same feelings I had at meet in London of a bunch of 'innovators' last year. I was bemused and slightly irritated. I found myself thinking that we have a slew of middle class, well paid professional 'do-gooder's' doing research, developing social policy etc, who invest huge amounts of time and money effectively 'discovering' or 'inventing' systems that used to be intrinsic to how we live and are - in many places - still intrinsic. As Eisenstein himself says, in the days of old, this is how people lived. He also suggests that currently 'poor people' live this way (I prefer the term low-income - as he suggests, lacking money - but abundant in other resources). Good on the people in Marin for doing what they are doing - but they haven't 'invented' anything AND the real challenge to them and other people from the middle and upper classes trying to build community, I think, is moving beyond their own communities generally comprised of people who look and think like them - linking with others in order to co-create healthier, thriving, safe, clean, nurturing communities for everyone. That said, perhaps this is step one go get people heading in that direction...