We’re all in this together.
What does this phrase bring to mind? Perhaps moments after devastation (hurricanes, tornados, bombings, raids, etc) when neighbors just come over and help move trees and cut branches. Because they see you and know you need help. At the highest point of fear, perhaps, when you can’t hear the dog’s bark, or a child’s shouts, and the digging or the searching needs more hands, they can appear, as if from nowhere. Reaching, digging, holding, carrying.
But there are other emergencies that don’t get the same kind of attention. Job losses and medical bills; sudden deaths and benefit cuts. Times when we couldn’t feel more alone if we tried.
Why is this sense of togetherness confined to collective tragedy, and not more communal and predictable tragedies, like the problem with gun violence or a decaying social safety net?
isolation
The answer is obvious: we’re being taught to think about ourselves. To obsess over what we get out of a moment or an experience or a deal. I must benefit to consider it.
Few things in life are so self-directed, however. Our parents, teachers, bosses, spouses, children, friends, neighbors — they all have a stake in our lives and our work.
One of the most famous examples of people showing their willingness to help each other comes from Kickstarter — where artists can get financial support to launch a project. And on the flip side, is GoFundMe, which people use it to help deal with incredible burdens. These are both the byproducts of the isolating elements of a system that says Take care of yourself. And millions of people resist.
That isolating message is a lie and it always is.
And because we are in this together, we need to keep making sure we remember it — and not just when tragedies happen.