ECONOMIC WELLBEING03/09/18

The last youth workshop I went to a few years ago was very humbling and informative, I certainly learned a lot. Added that to my working experience with adults today, I have come to a conclusion that if you are smart, no one likes you. If you are smart and not Asian, OMG watch out! You might get beaten up by the whole group.

I'm not one to show off or boast about anything, rather the opposite. But you can't help it if your reputation precedes you. You'll get over being friends with anyone, but you'd be looking for accommodations and work frequently.

So when people do that openly, you are in the best position to learn about social behaviour. And this comes in handy when observing the social environment. Then again, no-one believes you, not even the adjudicator!

Anyway, our modern economic organisation is divided by two spheres; on the one side is the social environment and on the other side is the material environment. Once upon a time the two spheres were united in the whole organisation, but due to gradual demands of the linear economy, the material is separated from the social.

The social environment consists of labour, culture and religious institutions; the material environment consists of physical and abstract entities. In short, the gradual demands of the material have replaced values of the social, leaving behind a linear material entity. Work, family and religion are now dominated by materialism.

At the same time, Modernisation is the shift of values from the social tradition to the modern material. And this is the point in question; the transition from the old to the new has identified a gap between tribal units and modern families. Parents who were brought up in the old way have given birth to children in the modern way. And we have a clash of values between parents and children.

For example, Freedom in the old way or tradition is responsible for the consequences of one's action. In the modern, Freedom is doing whatever one feels like. Parents continue to impose social values upon children, the same time children are caught in between their parents' tradition and materialism of modernity. Modern material freedom is reinforced by law and parents are helpless.

Meanwhile, modernity is characteristic of economic development that reinforced various fashions of the material. But growing up in a linear material environment may be lacking the qualities of social development where the linear unit is often caught in a vicious cycle of deterioration. It is possible that the social sphere of the young is lacking development for stability.

Now, the political influence of economic organisation determines the type of environment; National, the business party promotes policies for the material gain of the private business sector but does not care for the social consequences. The social consequences accumulate to world rate consideration at the expense of the public sector. National during its reign continued to deny the social consequences for as long as it remained the government.

Nine years later when Labour came into office, it confronted a human crisis and is forced to make good of the social consequences. It immediately put in place social policies to upgrade infrastructure, housing, education, labour and health but also farming and forestry industry.

And economic organisation has come to a head. The linear material environment is now maintained by National, and the social is maintained by Labour. So now we position the linear material environment to the right of the political spectrum and the social environment to the left.

And this is where it's all happening. National, the business party also neglected the needs of some farming businesses. While promoting other businesses and party brands, the social consequences are imposed upon individuals.

Communities among NGO services saw a human crisis came into the rescue of families with food parcels and soup kitchens among rough sleepers during the cold of winter.

Now, remember the transition from the old to the new where a cultural shift created a gap between parents and children? Well, this depression gap is pushed aside by impositions of individuals responsibilities by National and by external groups. It doesn't sit well when children do whatever they feel like the same time parents feel for the consequences.

That is, the conflict is kept alive by imposed obligations. These impositions of social issues are also backed by modern members of traditional groups upon their own. You know; on the one hand, one must be responsible for the consequences and on the other hand, one does whatever he/she wants, the confusion comes to a standstill. This pressure is particularly prevalent in less developed rural areas where the weakest group is hit the hardest. Statistics has shown the young; the unemployed; the sick and elderly are the most vulnerable.

Labour had arrived too late with substantial developments to fill this gap and prevent social consequences from spilling over the top of the world.

However, the good news is that development are in place and may take a wee while to impact positive outcomes before the world record consequences fall. Labour has also backed Farming and Forestry businesses while keeping the unemployment rate low.

The bad news is, the economic environment is now polarised by the material right and the social left. And obviously more bad news should we allow this sort of neglect out of control!

We are organic human beings and not all material entities. We are sure can enjoy the luxury of material wealth, but even with all material rich of the world cannot guarantee happiness and wellbeing. The pure soul of being longs for social qualities of beauty, peace and enlightenment. And a clean green environment can contribute towards holistic being of mind, body and spirit.

That is why we need to reunite the material entity with the social being once again, to complete the whole sphere of our humanity. Coming together is unity of differences in equality and solidarity.

I'm impressed with the recent research by 'ActionStation' involving youth on Happiness and Wellbeing. The youth participation has certainly shown encouraging potentials for the future.