Independence No More (March 2009)

So, this was the week that Bernie Madoff went to jail, and people stood outside the courthouse to celebrate his getting his "just desserts." The extent of the damage caused by his behavior has boggled the minds of many of us, and made the rest of us wonder if there is any way to protect our investments. We wonder if being responsible and saving will actually pay off in the end. We are shocked that people got "taken" who know a lot more about finances and investments than we do. "If they got taken," we reason, "What chance is there to prevent ourselves from being taken?" In other words, Madoff's fraud and dishonesty shakes our sense of financial security. It increases our fears. It shakes our sense of trust in our institutions. It makes us wonder who we can trust.

I hope it also challenges our "live and let live" and "everyone gets to believe what they want to believe" and "every person for him/herself" mentalities. Consider the phenomenal impact of Madoff's choices, the trickle down impact of Madoff's behavior. For instance, wealthy people in Palm Beach have had to foreclose on their homes, and have wondered how they will support themselves now that their wealth is gone. Some of us may say, "Well, I am not sure if I care too much about people who have had more than their share all along." But I think that, upon careful reflection, we will realize all of the people that these folks kept employed: gardeners, house cleaners, pool care people, home repair workers, interior designers. These employees didn't deserve to lose their livelihoods! And consider how much wealthy people buy in their communities on a regular basis, and the impact on the local businesses that are losing that income: restaurants and bars, clothing stores, car dealerships, theatres, home furnishings stores, and repair companies. Those businesses didn't do anything wrong! They didn't deserve the chaos caused by Madoff's illegalities!

But perhaps most distressing to me are the losses to philanthropic work that have and will trickle down from the losses experienced by wealthy people. Contributions to the arts, to research on health problems like AIDS and breast cancer and altzheimer's, to public television and radio, and to service organizations are all in jeopardy. And while the arts and broadcasting industries add value to our lives, more upsetting are the losses of services to those who don't typically access that value: the hungry, the homeless, those who are losing their homes, the mentally and physically ill, and the children off all of these less advantaged people. And, of course, Madoff's scandal is not the only challenge to philanthropy these days. The financial and real estate industries share that blame.

I think our current ethical and legal and economic experiences are a profound wake up call for all Americans who still believe in pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps, in independence as a way of life, and in "every person for him/herself." We need to realize that one person's illegal, unethical, or character-less behavior affects us all. We are not insulated from one another. We are all connected. My behavior affects my friends and neighbors, colleagues and family members. They then react in ways that affect all of their friends and neighbors, colleagues and family members. And so on, in a wider and wider web of influence. If my behavior is positive, inspiring, and character-full, then I will spread love and inspiration and hope and trust out into that web. However, if I make less inspired choices, then I poison the web, and that spreads fear and despair and mistrust and a "you better get while the getting is good" mentality. And as people take the first step down the "slippery slope" of taking what they want, even if the shouldn't, it becomes harder and harder to climb back up, and the crimes become bigger and bigger, and more and more dangerous and harmful.

Let's instead own the connections that are the reality of our current existence. Let's own them and relish them and challenge one another to be more than we have been. Let's declare, "Independence no more!" and celebrate our interdependence. Let's rise to the challenge of taking responsibility for more than ourselves and our own families. Let's realize that as long as one person, one community, one country in the world is suffering in disease, poverty, homelessness, crime, or poor education, then we are all at risk. We are all affected even if we are unaware of the impact. Did you know that we are all paying 17% more at the checkout stand just to make up for the theft experienced by retailers? I am sure that you can point to other costs of illegal or unethical behavior that many of us are paying daily, sometimes unknowingly.

Let's celebrate the ethical code that Obama requires federal employees to sign, even if it means it takes longer to find necessary employees. Let's support efforts by our current administration to get everyone involved in creating change, in empowering all Americans ("Yes We Can!"), in combating apathy, in building technology-assisted networks to keep people informed and to listen to citizens. Whatever political party we hail from, I think we need to rise to the challenge to reconnect ourselves with our neighbors, next door, down the street, downtown, on the "other side of town," on the other side of the country, and on the other side of the world. And once connected, we need to send positives out through that web, positives like trust, love, fairness, respect, honesty, responsibility, wisdom, courage, and integrity. We need to spread the wealth of character and material possessions and money. We need to reach out to community members and friends and family members who have lost jobs, or lost homes, and are struggling to survive this economic crisis. We need to stop blaming those who don't have what we do, stop our superiority complex, and realize that environment counts for a lot - and in this environment, many are over-challenged. If we won't take a stand and do it, who will? If we don't act now, then when?