Part Three, Social Wealth

[Our social wealth is the strength of our relationships with other people and social institutions.]

Over my life my social wealth has varied greatly as my environment and human affairs have changed. My first awareness was during the Great Depression as a small child dependent on my parents.  We lived in a publicly subsidized apartment on the lower East Side of New York. The building provided housing to families of young professionals living near the poverty level. There were actors, artists, aviators, and my father, an attorney.

Family is usually our primary social group. It can range from an adult pair, or a parent and child, to an expanded troupe of tribal size. In less fortunate circumstances it may be an institution such as foster care, prison, or boarding school. From our infancy we are formed socially by family. Our attitudes and perspectives, our methods of dealing with others, our loves and hatreds are mostly the products of family teaching and experiences.

I had a good family, born of a series of Victorian households with well entrenched standards.

[In this world the quality of nations varies greatly. Too many are dangerous places to live, ruled by dictators, or torn by tribal and religious strife. Some, lacking more productive employment, rate the quality of nations by their livability. The highest rated tend to be small (with less to go wrong) and with governments that serve, not rule, the people.] I know of no one who packed up to move from Denmark to Finland because the latter was more highly rated. Most who move internationally do so to escape really bad societies, or to have better employment.

[One foundation of social wealth is loyalties.  We instinctively have a loyalty to our families, and to varying degrees to our friends. This is a reverse form of wealth, we are enriched by the loyalty of the others in our group.  As Americans we are enriched by the loyalty of others within our country. That others may divert this loyalty to political parties dilutes this wealth, but it may be replaced if we agree with the other’s politics. To a large and hard to measure extent we, or many of us have a primal loyalty to the human race. When other folks in distant lands are beset by some tragedy of nature or evil of man, we are inclined to come to their aid, or at least send our institutions to their aid, or to avenge the wrongs they suffered.]

[On a more intimate scale, our communities directly affect our social wealth. These give us access to social connections and benefits. Institutions such as schools, churches, sports facilities, entertainment, and neighborhoods are the venues through which we make friends, share activities with our families, and exchange information.](Discuss Bronxville)

Our societies influence us and contribute to our well-being. In a representative government we influence our political society. The degree to which a government is representative is dependent on how active and interested the people are in the government. Many of us just take what we get. Others are active and effective to various degrees and ways.

For some, influences and pressures from our societies influence what forms of our personal being we emphasize, project, or hide.

[Recorded notes 10/5/17: I believe I have observed that some nations are governed by the idea that theirs is the duty to rule their populations, and other governments feel they should serve their populations.

I have observed that many who believe people should be ruled believe that there is an inherent evil in us all. This might be of a genetic source but more likely this attitude is the product of life experience and religious instruction.

My belief, reinforced by life experiences, is that people have good intentions and will aid their fellows when needed and possible. They are good.

We tend to associate with others having the same feelings, and thereby reinforce one or the other of these attitudes.

(This makes liberals and conservatives?)