Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone

There are baseline needs. There are common needs. We can choose to focus on these. But, different things happen at the same time. 

Basic needs are not all that is of genuine interest to all of us. It is not enough to not neglect. We must also know how to nurture to truly nourish.

A starved psyche is starved not only of food and water, but more importantly, it is starved of its own dignity, dreams, and aspiration.

And genuine character does not come with what you can purchase, nor with what you can bargain for. It comes in full and it is already there for the taking.

Carrot and Stick and Freedom from this Cycle

This is nothing new but still worth repeating.

It used to be that forcing someone to obey through brute force was the primary option. Now that has become unsophisticated. So instead, incentives are used to keep those in captivity to remain captive. 

Being a captive is made to look and feel fun and trendy.

It used to be as well that captivity was overt and physical. Now it is more and more covert and psychological. You get a generation of paranoid nervous wrecks. 

But the story does not end there. 

Just as brutal suppression and physical captivity has become less and less effective, so too would psychological and subliminal coercion become a relic of the past. 

Our minds constantly evolve. They say to see is to believe and I believe in freedom because I have seen it.

The Future of Socialization

The future is less social, not more. 

While the broader reach of social media and the increasing capacity for online connectivity allow us to reach people from across boundaries, the quality of our connection with each other will be more purposeful and personal.

The value of reaching out only to those with whom we can forge a more rooted, more meaningful, and lasting bond will be greater. 

It is from here that we can build resilient communities and not erase our personal character in the process.