Agape
The answer to apathy is empathy.
The answer to heartlessness and ignorance
is shaping generations of caring individuals who are altogether educated,
savvy and informed applied community engineers.
To love, not because of how the other makes one feel, or what they do for one, but because of a mindful choice to care.
To choose to love, in spite of the goodwill of another, in spite of the vehemence of another or others, in spite of dismissiveness, and in spite of the indifference or apathy of others.
With the teaching of a more empathic form of capitalism that is at once woven across our educational systems and introduced as a harbinger of success within the financial world, we introduce a new American countenance that is financially literate, more civic-minded, and a natural creator of outstanding citizens who care.
The necessary action sequence to include a parent-driven call for improvements in educational improvements, even an addition to academic curricula to educate Americans to be professionals with the understanding and experience to apply their expertise as business men and business women in an entrepreneurially-civic manner,
may cause great ‘good’ in a community. In other words, renaissance men and women, skilled in their profession, in the business growth of their profession, and an appreciation for complimenting the health of a community as an equal, if not more important marker of success can be a practical way to further improve life for others.
In the time of the Jewish prophet Nehemiah, the biblical author comments in the beginning of his words that the city of Jerusalem and adjoining lands are impoverished, unkept, and generally untended, that the walls are broken down, the breaches are many, and the people have altogether left following the Lord. King Artaxerx’es asks Nehemiah why he is of a sad countenance, to which Nehemiah responds that his land and people are broken. They have a spectacular conversation whereby Nehemiah politely beckons
the King, whom Nehemiah served in the palace as the King’s ‘cupbearer,’ if he could return to rebuild the walls, strengthen the land, and bring the people back to God. Permission was granted from the King, replete with right of passage travel papers straightly-issued from the king, and even a small detachment of soldiers escorting and validating the King’s support of Nehemiah reaching Jerusalem safely and carrying out the physical building and social work campaign. All of this was a remarkable situation, given that it was the King’s nation who destroyed Jerusalem.
With spears and swords kept presently close, the work was divided and the builders each set to their section of the wall with great diligence. But Nehemiah and the builders encountered great resistance, with Nehemiah being the target of a ‘fake news’ campaign to smear his name before the king, and thus, break the spirits of the people, and altogether bring the revitalization of the city to a halt. Many a times, attempts and blitzes were organized by the haters to ‘set up’ the
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| Project-oriented missions is how localized social entrepreneurs can begin to rebuild America. |
possibility of an ambush on Nehemiah, even creating false documents that were to be sent to the king to give a false report stating that Nehemiah’s intention was to fortify the city to eventually break away from having to pay tribute or give heed to the foreign king. As the story continues, we learn that Nehemiah had no intention at all to do such thing, and he rebuffed all attempts to displace him or dislodge the operation to physically rebuild the city and revitalize its ability to be an economic commerce center.
So it is that the repairs were made and life improved in a number of ways. God blessed the project and Nehemiah’s leadership.
Bringing about an America that is that ‘city on a hill,’ may have to happen in the midst of selfish ness, in the midst of foes, in the midst of backbiters, scoffers, mockers, and the short-sighted. Build anyways and repair the breaches of our nation, that our hearts and minds may be made healthy and whole again, and that perhaps a healthy and more united American front can be made a reality through the practice joining ‘servant leadership,’ with business and one’s profession or trade.
The answer to mass killings, for example, may not be in so much as in taking guns away from the populace, but maybe it can mean being entrepreneurially-civic about social engineering; a sweeping new outlook of action upon new generations of citizenry. Like a fulfillment of President Kennedy’s directive to be about what we can do for each other; and the practice of the message of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., who focused steadfast with his eyes on the prize of attaining civil rights for African Americans.
Together enough of us can bind to win with a consistent push to make things better. Only, the support of such a commerce system of caring need be founded with an academic foundation, that Americans may grow in the nurturing of, the thinking about, and the doing of community-building, not as organizers only, but as action-oriented stalwarts operating successful mission-focused social enterprises.
An army of strategy-minded social engineers who have received an education in their chosen profession, with a requisite profession in business application, and a social entrepreneurial training from grade school on through university studies would create a different America. Like in Nehemiah’s story, new waves of American citizens can enter the work force, minded to seek the adventure of embarking on social entrepreneurial work. This caring-business model is inspiring and uplifting, creating empathy, and this directly affects the social constructs in the life of our community, be it our local, national, or global community.
There will still be a system of business and politics that banks on its own special interests, caring not at all or paying mere lip service to the ideal of the efforts needed to bring about a better America. We will continue to have disagreements and prevailing social issues that beset us, but at the very least, an increasing number of Americans can be empowered to be solution creators, and this dilutes the focus and power of influence we lay upon an established leadership order to ‘fix things’ for us. WE are the catalysts for and social physicians we have been waiting for. Parent-led educational improvements are they key to creating nation-wide shifts in perspective. Surely, not all need choose such an amalgamation of professions, wherein a professional minds their business, and is also about improving the health of community through an enterprising endeavor. All can be taught to have an appreciation and respectful support of fellow citizens who are leading the charge in making things better though, if they are made aware of such an initiative through its practice from grade school and on up through academia. The educational curriculum can certify this intellectual and moral support through the raising up of all American citizens to be informed in the cornerstone practice of social entrepreneurial business applications.
“WE are the catalysts for and social physicians we have been waiting for.”
The building of Nehemiah’s wall was a physical, moral, and spiritual action to beautify the nation again, and yes, protect the people from being culturally and economically overrun by any wishing to enter. The social breaches that have led to a weakening of America being able to enjoy the blessings of having healthy individuals, communities, and sound natural environment can be gently fixed using a ground-up economic movement that is also bi-lateral in nature through private/ public partnership. This empathic capitalism, though existent even now, is by far, not scaled sufficiently enough nation-wide because it has as of yet been integrated into the educational curriculum on any grand scale. The mentality that ‘government’ or ‘others’ must save us, or others in places of political authority must be the sole solution-makers has been shown to be an ill-conceived thought process bearing limited fruition. As idealistic as it may be, starting at the local community level, and at the federal level we can develop a private and public teamwork or project-oriented professionals collaborating in a growing economy of caring through educational reform.
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