Knowing when to close the screen

People are in digital jailIt isn’t just kids that are getting addicted to screens. We are encouraged (and expected) to use our iPads, phones and TVs. It’s hard for people to understand how curiosity leads to wasted potential. There is always one more webpage to look at, one more tweet to send, and one more TV series to binge watch. People don’t get bored now, so they don’t know when to close the screen and actually do something. Here’s to people getting out into community, experiencing life eye to eye, and helping to make a difference.

Click here to read the New York Post article “Digital heroin”.

people-need-to-get-together-in-community-in-person

Live well not wealthy

 In times of challenge, people rediscover what is truly important.

Decades of marketing had us thinking we wanted stuff, we wanted wealth, we wanted it all.

What we’re rediscovering is that, at its core, life is about people.

When people work together, share community and respect each other, we all do better.

There will always be people who are wealthier, but if they’re smart or encouraged, they’ll remember each day that their success is built on the efforts and strength of regular folks — hard working people. So they’ll share too, and use their positions to help the world, not just themselves.

The prosperity and legacy of every person, wealthy or not, is interwoven with those around them.

Let’s be the ones who look and see those really needing help.
Let’s be the ones that share their time, skills and appreciation.
Let’s be the ones historians point to and say:

“This is when we figured out that people matter most.”

  

Live well not wealthy

A poem by Rob Hueniken, 2012-Aug-04 

We’re on our way, to spend some time
with friends and family.

We’re sharing life and being part
of our community.

We may not have every single thing
but we laugh and dance and talk and sing.

We’d rather share than hoard and boast.
We know that people matter most.

I’m sitting here, on leather seats.
I have a cushioned ride.

I like that I have more than most.
It is my source of pride.

I know my Mom thinks I’m a jerk
for putting people out of work.

But it makes me rich. It’s what I do.
Could I really live like you?

Live well, not wealthy.

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Words to live by and share

A big part of remaking our world is using words that respect and recognize what’s important to people — both in private and in public.

Words can be used in two ways: to tear down people and dismiss alternatives; or to build people up, and encourage good things to get done together. If you put those two types of words on a balance today it would crash down onto the negative side.

Partisan bickering and marketing hype have become the norm, raining down on us every day as part of the news, airwaves and the Internet — striving to divide us, escalate our differences, and convince us with half-truths. There is constant and confusing yelling, while calm and considered public discussion is left unheard or dismissed in twisted sound bites. 

Listen instead of yelling

Words now have less meaning, and everyone is feeling it, with companies, politicians and media pundits bending our ears repeatedly for their own benefit, not ours. That part is finally becoming clear: that the yelling is rarely for the benefit of the regular person.

One way that people deal with the bickering is to pick a side, and keep their heads down. Sometimes that lets us ignore the yelling, as we struggle with daily challenges and hope that things work out.

Unfortunately, the stakes keep getting higher, with escalating financial inequality, division and decisions threatening to edge more people out of work and into poverty.

So it’s time for us to start using positive words, especially in public — between each other — between friends, between coworkers, between the people you interact with every day. Let people know, and let others hear, that you care about people.

Getting back to focusing on people has to start somewhere, and that’s with us — regular people.

Hard-working and considerate people have a proven track record for helping each other out of tough times. Our shared values of health, family, community, fairness and employment are our shared strengths, and our way out of the global crisis created by those using the dual swords of money and power on people.

We all know how to be kind and considerate. Let’s show the people around us that they matter.

Words to live by:

Respect

Friends

Intentional

Purposeful

Caring Opportunity

Active

Together

Participation

Choices

Build
Community

Neighbours Listening Family
Mutual respect

Healthy

Sharing

Listening Appreciating

Be an example

Role Model Encouragement

 

Agent of change

Include

Viewpoints

Singing

Start something

Recognizing

 

Make a
difference

 

Stand up
for people

 

Decisions

Relationships

Network

Local Projects

People matter most

Alternatives

Thankful

Art
Creative

 

Boycott

Choosing

Hope

 

Help

Employment

Self-organized

New ideas

Change

Including

Develop

Communicate

Compassion

Community

Fairness

New balance

Outdoors

 

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What NeoPeopleism is and is not

Here are some things that NeoPeopleism IS and IS NOT.

NeoPeopleism is NOT a religion, a political ideology or a form of socialism. You can be of any religion, political party or economic system and be part of NeoPeopleism. It can exist within capitalism — just not the winner-take-all form of capitalism currently practised.

NeoPeopleism IS the affirmation that cooperation and community are at the centre of humanity’s strengths and successes, and always have been. It is based on the timeless fact that people matter most — all people.

Two characteristics that NeoPeopleists often show are their caring and intentionality. We are all witnesses to positive changes when we are appreciative, respectful and encouraging of others. The more we do this, the more the world’s focus shifts to what matters to people.

The basis of NeoPeopleism has always existed, and is woven deeply into the fabric of our lives. Even those infatuated with extreme wealth and power know that it is the widespread good will and well-being of regular folks that allows our society to function, and them to have become wealthy.

Many of the world’s struggles are seeing bubbles of NeoPeopleist activity, as people rail against whatever and whoever is resisting the focus being on people. This includes the rising discontent with political parties, the Occupy Movement, tuition demonstrations, and Black Lives Matter. NeoPeopleism is needed and active wherever people are second class citizens, suffering beneath the interests of money and power. NeoPeopleism is needed in all scenarios of injustice, violence and poverty.

In North America, hard-working people are being denied good jobs, yet encouraged to live a money-focused, debt-inducing life style. As with other versions of inequality and injustice, people will tolerate this for a while, then find ways to set things right.

Various forms of fear, politics and social control keep people from actively pursuing improved living conditions. Most recently, people have been kept distracted by big screen TVs and cell phones — both of which are terrific for entertainment and communication. But even excellent tech cannot mask the growing divide in wealth and the loss of focus on people.

Our current winner-take-all economy is at odds with people’s natural sense of fairness, cooperation and human dignity. So it’s time for NeoPeopleism to rev up.

It’s time to get back to focusing on people.

[Return to the home page of NeoPeopleism.com.]