Acquiring, Sharing and Caring - Reflections During Lockdown

Three words very prevalent right now.

But I'm sat at my laptop at 4am saddened and angered listening to desperate people phoning in to Radio 5Live because none of their so-called neighbours has reached out to offer any support in these times. Thus an article which is more of a ramble and rant...

My (relatively) limited experience of the world has been influenced by Western-Liberal values - imploring us to acquire more and more. Acquisition seems to have been the driver behind all societal structures - acquiring knowledge, wealth, property, and 'experiences'. It may well be worth examining the value of those acquisitions.

KNOWLEDGE: Having worked in the UK education sector for nearly 20 years, I experienced the Goveian revolution emphasising the acquisition of knowledge over skills. With a return to 'chalk and talk' teaching and 'assessment' meaning a test of one's ability to sit in silence and write endlessly for hours, knowing 'stuff' has superseded the ability to 'do'. Interestingly, in an age of multimedia and computer science, UK education has chosen to model itself on Edwardian grammar school curricula.

Furthermore, the so-called accountability measures have led schools to focus on acquisition: of high-performance examination results; of 'awards' for school leadership; of the 'right' students. This competitive endeavour is, ultimately, striving to acquire the Holy Grail of schools - the OfSTED Outstanding badge.

Examinations are, by definition, both competitive and egocentric. As are the accountability measures - which are based on national averages, therefore automatically condemning roughly 50% of schools to be 'below average'!

Collaboration, teamwork, emotional intelligence and communal cohesion are, implicitly, sidelined - though inspections do make reference to such things. However, it's more valuable for the modern school if their students can remember the longshore-drift process or quote MacDuff rather than articulate how they might contribute to the wellbeing of their community and global society.

And all of this is, of course, in order to prepare young people for the next stage of their mission of acquisition...

PROPERTY & WEALTH - We all know that Western Liberalism is founded upon the basic right to own property and liberal capitalism is all about the acquisition of more property and wealth. (I don't feel any need to discuss this further - it's a done deal and Marx, Friedmann et al have done a pretty thorough job of exploring the pros and cons thereof!)

Thus, acquisition is the goal and sharing is optional.

How ironic then, to see images of people crowding into underground trains despite the exhortations to socially-distance. People being willing to share Covid in an attempt to maintain the acquisition process.

But we must not be critical of those people. Many are travelling to contribute to key services whilst others are coerced into travelling for fear of losing employment and/or facing starvation. I doubt that CEOs are forcing themselves onto the Central Line...

Surely it can be no surprise to anyone that a message imploring us to stop acquiring has fallen on so many deaf ears - we've been told all our lives that each of us must prioritise the self, even if that's at the expense of others. Having grown up with those values we are all 'key workers'!

Suddenly some of the lowest paid and least recognised are needed so desperately - care workers, nurses, food delivery drivers, our wonderful refuse collectors... The heroes of finance and commerce don't seem quite so valuable at this pivotal moment.

EXPERIENCES - My mother takes photos. Lots of photos. It's quite endearing, but more than a little frustrating at times. She likes to record moments and experiences - seemingly from lots of different angles!

But our modern world appears to value the experiences of others more than our own. Facebook, Instagram and so forth have turned us all into voyeurs and, therefore, we have responded to this by displaying the experiences we have acquired. We do this in the name of sharing - but it's not really is it?! For most 'followers' have never seen what we look like when we're grumpy, ill or suffering from anxiety about paying the bills - they've only seen our holiday villa/amazing car/new house/fabulous new outfit/socialite partying (delete as appropriate).

We're not really sharing - we're displaying what we've acquired. The people we've shared the experience/thing with were there with us when it happened! Forgive the cynicism (and, yes, I know and agree that it's excellent for keeping in touch with family etc.) but our desperation to share is reflective of our desire to accumulate and acquire. If we really wanted to share then we'd have paid for everyone we know to come on the holiday with us!

So that's acquiring and sharing dealt with.

What about the caring?

My wife and I delivered some leaflets offering assistance to anyone self-isolating in our neighbourhood. That people responded with such genuine gratification was saddening in some ways.

I questioned as to why have we not offered this before? We go shopping regularly. We drive. We socialise. How much effort would it really be for me to do this kind of thing each week? But we don't - or, at least, we didn't before Covid-19.

The supermarket has been the most depressing of all - not that I was overly keen on the places anyway! To see the bare shelves despite reassurance that there's plenty for everyone if we're all sensible, has reinforced exasperation at our unquenchable thirst to acquire.

We've been so caught up in acquiring that sight has been lost of simple human values and dignity. We've managed to go on sharing the one thing we should have kept to ourselves and we've left caring to a tiny fraction of our fellow-species.

Perhaps this will make all of us reflect on whether our multinational commercial and governmental structures are actually providing the kind of global community that humanity craves? Perhaps the notion of sharing and caring will become more fashionable than acquiring? Or perhaps, like with the financial meltdown of 2008 that posed similar questions, we'll all just go back to acquiring more and more - and wait for another virus to jump on board our over-crowded and self-centred train...

Let's take the opportunity. Reflect and change.

Acquire friends and relationships, learning from the wisdom of others. Measure our wealth in terms of sharing experiences with others. And care for each other.