Friday, July 4, 2014

Beyond More and Less

At some point, more can’t be the answer. Here’s a simple problem: there is too much traffic. Answer: more roads and bridges. Problem solved. Sort of. For a while. As soon as you answer more, you lose the possibility of different. And we are desperately in need of different in our world today. More is no longer sustainable.

The answer, however, is not therefore less. You hear that a lot from corporations and governments now. They have reached the limit of more and relentlessly cry out for less. But less is simply the new more. Less waste (more profit), less staff to do the same work (more profit), less money for the same work (more profit). Nothing changes except the cost of more is more and more the burden of the workers who get less and less.

The current teachers’ strike is locked in a battle between more and less. I am yearning for the conversation about different.

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