Cocoon for Community - Category: Information    
 Cocoon now!9 comments
category picture2 Jun 2013 @ 13:55
The first thing I struggle with is whether or not to list this under "information" or "dream" as I post. It is neither and both. I again reach out to people who will really think about what this post is about. If it moves you to contact me then great! If you want to talk about existing intentional communities out there then you don't quite get what I am talking about yet. Some come close ~ but hear me out. I will try not to get too political but it's hard. Because it's about the US and THEM dynamic. It's about the rich and poor and in the end, it's about politics.
We can claim that things have no changed in the world all that much in the last few generations and we can claim that the world is flat too. I want to talk about this little part of the world we call the USA. It claims to be so many things that it no longer seems to be. Facing the fact that we are not what we were a few generations ago will help you to get your mind around the reason I am here and have been checking in here for the last 9 years. I am looking for you if you know that as a society, we are in very sick shape. Our social order in this country has become almost a caste system where if your momma was poor, you're poor. Yeah, yeah, the great society. Don't look now, but unless you are very comfortably set up in your finances you are more than likely poor or one paycheck away from being poor. It is no longer about whether or not you were smart enough to go to college and earn a degree that would entitle you to a life time of ample pay checks and respect from you friends and family is it? Because you still can't find a job. It's no longer about whether or not you live by a sterling set of personal guidelines and never fail to go to church. You may be a fine upstanding citizen who has no criminal record, no substance abuse issues, and a fine set of moral standards and still poor. Why is that? You know the answer already. Because you could not trust in all the things that you were raised to believe would happen for good people like you. Here's where you would expect me to rail against the government. Nah. They are us don't you know. At least they start out that way. It's about being bought out years ago. It's about being set up to become nothing more than producers for big business. You are an American and can make your life what you want right? Right? Some of us can, maybe just enough to keep that notion like a carrot before us. But insidiously, over the last 50 years or so, that ability has been knocked out from under you peg by peg without your noticing. And now, you stand on top of a big ol pile of tinker toys just waiting to topple again. Now don't go grabbing your arsenal and heading for the hills. Ah, go ahead. And stay there.
The rest of us need to think of creative ways to help each other up. We are Americans after all. Be proud and be resourceful. Be kind and be smart. Live by those ideals that you set up for yourself when you determined just what kind of human being you would be. Empower yourself with all the good stuff that you know you are. Just letting you know that you're not alone.
I have Cocooning in my mind to help. So far it's just in my mind. I no longer have my property because shit happens. Cocooning calls for people to live in community again. Small communities where we grow food, raise animals, create cottage industry, and create a natural supportive network through intentional family. It's not your hippie commune of the 70's. It's more sophisticated by far. It may or may not focus on veganism and tree hugging. It most likely would focus on green building, repurposing and self sufficiency. While being partner and work mates in our near by "regular" communities. It's time that we evolve. To do that, some of us must venture into uncharted places and create community models that not only suits the residents but is an extension of their belief system. Cocoons can be all shapes and sizes.
I'd really like to hear what you are thinking. Share?  More >