What makes a nation rich? A question that has been asked and answered a million times surely, and in at least a dozen ways. I ask again, not because we have forgotten happiness knowing it is unattainable for most, and again, not because they are now calling the UK poor and India rich because both countries have children who go hungry. I ask because we are all in thrall – and are at a place where we are ready to acknowledge it. It’s a bit like Barbie who realises something is wrong but she doesn’t know enough to figure it out.
Do rising stock markets make a nation rich? Sure they do, kaching! For some. Or all, depending upon the savings and investment profile of the country. Do higher house prices? Sure – they encourage construction and movement – all those beautiful leading indicators of increasing income, right? Oh, income, that shibboleth, sure sure, who does not like more income. For all, surely you mean, right. It’s not as if some people will become poorer because the cream rises to the top. All of these things are good, but they don’t seem to have done us much good yet. Not as much good as we wanted. Yes of course we have airports closer to home, and sometimes – there were times when it was cheaper to fly….we were close, we were this close.
The questions will always get an ‘it depends’ response. It depends upon the questions you ask. Do you want a rich country? Or do you want people to be rich? Does everybody get to be rich – just a bit less or more? Are riches visible or is it the ineffable happiness of sunshine on a soft summers day when you sit at your table and see your family well fed, the fires burning where they should and no fires where they terrify us. Plenty, that we know is a part of being rich-a feeling of there being plenty. And no fear of losing it, for when we become insecure, we recognise no plenty is enough. And begin to chase, to snatch, to hunt, to other, to claim. Empires were built on insecurities. It was fear and they called it power.
The power to make others afraid of you, the power to make them work for your coffers, the power to crack the whip and extend your borders, your business – all of them come from a fear of being left alone, hungry and in want. No riches will ever be enough when they come from a this big insecure hole, from fear. We have seen this, we have bred a world of slavery, of expansionism, of conquest and terror. What we got from it has left us in want. We are hungry for more, and hunger is the opposite of riches.
There is a reason we value the arts, for what we cannot measure, we can envision. A rich person and a rich place will have these three: To be safe, to be well, and to discover. Clean air and water and food, pleasant houses and education for all so that they can build what they need. No one shall be denied these, there will always be a sponsor for everyone who wants to study more, there will be a mentor to one who wants to build better. This will not be called Utopia, for I do not even seek equality here. Only enough resources to start a quest, enough food to carry in a backpack, and a light to carry through the jungle path to that leads one to discovery of the self and brings back small gifts for others. A nation that can enable this journey for every one is a rich nation.
Such riches are common, and all the more precious for being common. Ordinary, you might think. Easy – right there, in sight. But like many a mirage, it fades as you reach out for it. It is so simple and yet no one has it. It is the simplest of visions, and yet the most challenging of all. This is the challenge that is thrown out to you, those in power and policy, in policing and politics. Enable journeys, ones that bring – and I repeat – discoveries and small gifts.
The want in the world today is that of discoveries. Amidst a flood of start ups, of new technologies, of great science, the only bright sparks are the discoveries that bring little glimmers of hope. Not the tinkering that craves scale, that monster will always remain hungry, feeding itself, nibbling away at my edges. Yes, we are restless, we crave more and more. But the greed is for the quest, not for the goal. To be rich is to have a quest, a purpose. And to fight one’s own fears, one’s own limitations to discover something that we can share with others. That is both joy, and growth.
Now to build structures around this – to enable it, not the barriers that we have built so that life is a hurdle race for some and a glide for others. That leaves everyone unhappy. The gliders are denied their quest, the ones facing hurdles are denied their ability to share. Everyone suffers, and we are suffering. Look at the world — flooded airports, bombs and riots, mental health crises, lonely masses, greedy classes and I could go on and on. We navigate our little boats of happiness among the sea of doom. A glimpse, a little dot, a moment of joy and then the fear crowds us in again. This is not a quest, this is not the journey through the forest path, this is not discovery and this does not get us anything to share and give. This is the very opposite of riches. This is merely a response – a rational response – to the structures of fear and greed that enmesh us. It may be too much to ask to recast ourselves as a species – maybe we are condemned to this. But if we are condemned to this, then we are also inevitably on a path to self destruction. We shall eat ourselves raw.
If we do manage to recast ourselves, let it be for these goals – for each one of us to be safe, to be well and to discover. To organise for these, to be communities and societies that enable our quest – not conquest – so that we can share our small gifts with others.
I am not an optimist. From the bottom of the barrel of pessimism come these four words that I will repeat again and again: Safe, Well, Discover, Share. Once before, it was the bottom of the box that saved everyone. After the furies and diseases had been released, the world became unbearable. Till the last thing came, Hope. I call on that hope, that once saved the world to adopt this last thing to save us from our own self destruction – Share. Share, and we shall survive. For only in sharing do you prove that you are rich.
A rich country, a rich people are by definition the ones who give, who share. That is the simple measure of being Rich.
Meeta W Sengupta 