Making a Contribution

(Spoken by Nimue, typed by James)

Humans are naturally co-operative. Collaboration has always been key to our success and survival. As a consequence, most of us feel invested in being useful to others. It can be a big part of your sense of self. This is something I’ve had a lot of time to think about of late. In many ways I’m not useful at all right now, and looking after me has created a huge workload for others.

Part of the problem here is capitalism. We’re in a system that defines our usefulness in terms of economic activity. It would be fair to say that some people who are very economically active are of little use to anyone else at all… But internalised capitalism can have us seeing our value only in terms of the money we earn.

Being of value to each other is so much bigger than this. I think of the activists who give their lives to causes, earning little but achieving a lot. I think about the people who devote their lives to caring for others, usually unpaid. And alongside those, the undervalued healing professionals. If we paid people based on their real value, nurses and care home workers would have a very different experience.

We can support each other with encouragement and inspiration. Sharing stories can inform and heal others. Simply sharing this journey of being alive is a really important thing to do. Human community and human value can truly be found in what we share. Usefulness is more than economic utility. When we look for those gifts that others can bring and don’t just judge by earning power our lives and communities are much richer.