Yesterday, I got the chance to have lunch with Charles Eisenstein, author of The Ascent of Humanity and Sacred Economics. He was a really brilliant guy, and we got the chance to exchange some really constructive words in the twenty four minutes we were waiting for our table.
I told him about my WeBMaP idea, and asked him if it made sense to him. He said, "It sounds like it could make sense." I told him that I hadn't been pitching it much, more just listening and trying to see where it fits. Then he said something that I found very humbling, yet very assuring. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, that the days of one genius having one idea that changes the world are passing away. The new revolution is about the collaborative collective.
Today, when Don Hall, Joe Shirk, Christina Gonzalez, and I went to meet with two of the coordinators of the Tampa Bay Time Bank, I got a real good sense of what he was talking about. If you're not familiar with the concept, a Time Bank allows users to post services they offer or services they need. When they spend time in service, they accrue hours. When they need service, they use hours.
Time Banking is a social change movement based on five values: Assets: Redefining Work, Reciprocity, Social Networks, and Respect. Or more astutely, we are all assets, some work is beyond price, helping works better as a two-way street, we need each other, and every human being matters.
Having gone without the use of Federal Reserve Notes for the last two months, some of the people I've helped have asked me how else they could repay me for the services I rendered. I think the Time Bank allows for the more integrative economics of simply paying it forward. It occurred to me how beneficial a system like that could be in reviving the economy of Sarasota on so many levels.
Obviously, the first thing that struck me was how it could help the homeless population get some work, find some dignity, and feel like they are contributing to something. Of course, this offers just as many, if not more, opportunities for the 10.5% unemployed, letting them invest their extra 40 hours a week in their community and connecting with those who might offer other prospects. People with green thumbs or strong backs can create and harvest organic permaculture gardens throughout the county so that participants can exchange hours for the time it takes food to grow. And considering the cavalcade of Creatives in Sarasota, and the hours they put into their work, the possibilities are literally endless.
We joked about everyone getting equivalent hours for the years they celebrate on their birthday, but I honestly don't think it's a bad idea. After all, considering what they've lived through, I think our senior population has already clocked a few hours.
It's funny. Considering how much of a huff everybody is in about this being 2012, and now it's the Year of the Dragon, I think it may just be time for us to start considering the value of our time. The current monetized economic structure is largely based on products, things, material goods made from resources which must be culled from the Earth. But many of us have been realizing more and more that the most important things in life are not things, and more importantly, disposable materialism is a lot less sustainable than time wisely spent.
I really look forward to exploring the possibilities.
I write the world
I write the world letters
I write the world poems
I write the world sonnets and essays and moans
I write the world songs
I write the world scenes
I write the world through books and emails and zines
I write the world happy
I write the world sad
I write the world temperatures between good and bad
I write the world coming
I write the world gone
I write the world of the Kingdom Come
I write the world truth
I write the world lies
I write the world bargains, pleas, alibis
I write the world sober
I write the world stoned
I write the world guilty and oh so alone
I write the world hopeful
I write the world glum
I write the world decoratively and deliciously dumb
I write the world for you
I write it for me
for the path
that leads
to We
Contributed by Steve McAllister
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