On 11 Apr 2008 at 20:59, elvirawhite wrote:

> I agree with your comment that we should overcome our fear of the other.
> I think you mean that we could then take in the homeless and remove the problem.

Hi Elvira... well, that's part of it, but let me expand a bit on what I see the true power of relocalization to be.

It does start with overcoming our fear of the other, but it's more than just taking in the homeless. It means giving every human the opportunity to be a responsibly contributing member of their community. Yes, there are true sociopaths, but let's put that unique problem aside for now. Everyone else has the need to have their senses of belonging and acceptance fulfilled.

Let's take a deep look at homelessness, especially in America. While some people are just natural nomads and perfectly content with that lifestyle, the homeless population got a big boost when the mental health hospitals started shutting down in the 1970s. It is also a sorry reflection of the way in which we honor our veterans. But homelessness is closely tied to poverty, and the fact that on the official accounting ledger of capitalism, an unemployment rate of 3-5% is deemed _necessary_, and is said to be a reflection of a healthy economy. What it really is is a way to curtail the power of labor, but that's another story.

The aspect of relocalization that addresses social equity comes into play here. Community support networks can both take care of those in need and provide means of right livelihood. I always find it instructive to point out that we could all be working two-thirds less and have full global employment and still produce all the stuff that's produced today. We could get away with not only producing much less stuff, but producing a higher quality of what we do need. Of course this doesn't contribute to economic expansion, which is why the decentralization aspect of relocalization then becomes so important.

Responsibly contributing to one's community can occur in more ways than flipping burgers or punching out rubber washers ten hours a day for a product that will be in the landfill within six months. Weeding a neighbors garden or telling stories to their children are but two of hundreds of examples of ways self-worth and esteem can be built, even in those with what we consider to be physical and mental handicaps. Decreases (not disappearance) in crime and drug addiction could also be expected from a core reordering of social relationships and more equal opportunities. Mimes, poets, janitors, teachers, caregivers, cobblers, and blacksmiths are all equally necessary to keep a community functioning with a high quality of life.

One of those synchronicities is a story my wife related to me yesterday. She's reading an historical fiction to her second grade students about the Buffalo Bill Cody show as they study the Civil War and westward expansion. The main character is a little girl whose mom paints the sets for the show. Sitting Bull, the Lakota Sioux chief who toured with the show, is baffled that so many of the children around are so poor, while other people are so very rich. He says to her (through a translator), "In my tribe, it is shameful for one to own more than the others in the tribe." It's both Interesting and hard to imagine today that whole communities lived this way at one time. I don't want to start the argument again that I'm romanticizing tribal culture. My point is only that there are other ways of being and relating that are perfectly natural -- that we can choose.

This is what informs my thinking and activism. We must have a vision for what we want, while realistically allowing ourselves to be informed by what may happen if we don't change our ways (mainly from a social perspective, but individual as well). Simply preparing for collapse is inadequate, and I really don't see it as being the best use of limited energy and resources, although the possibility must factor into our daily work, if for no other reason than to help us do our best to avoid it.