
It seems like nowadays many people’s goal in life is to have some or other issue they can blow up to something big and then garner as much support as possible for it. Then they promote it as an important cause and somehow even find people who are willing to sponsor them.
Too many issues
Personally I believe that as a society we are busy losing our marbles with just way too many issues continually springing up. Then somebody must be found guilty and somebody must take the blame because someone had an issue with something.
The next thing is we proclaim a day each year to remind us of that specific issue and if we’re not careful it becomes elevated to a month of commemorating that issue / cause.
UN commemorative days
Did you know that on 7 September it was the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies?
Hope it wasn’t too cloudy where you live. On 30 September we’ll celebrate International Translation Day. Hope we’ll not get lost in translation then.
I really hope that the following days will be a huge success in 2020: the International Day of Peace on 21 September; the International Day of Non-violence on 2 October; the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on 13 October and the International Anti-corruption Day on 9 December. But how we are to commemorate World Toilet Day on 19 November remains somewhat beyond my grasp.
The question is, what difference does commemorating the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies or World Toilet Day make to anyone of us?
Maybe, with the money they raise for the cause, the person who drives the organisation can put food on the table for themselves and a couple of others. Interesting though is that all these days (and many more) are observed and supported by the United Nations.
To me the question arises whether we can classify any of these as productive work? I fail to see how protesting with a placard stating International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies will by any means contribute to economic growth.
# Productive work
With the economic disaster we are left with in the wake of Covid-19, I think we should rather focus our energy on productive work that can add to growing and rebuilding the economy.
Differences aside
Perhaps it is time to put aside our differences and the issues that force us apart and focus on collaboration in order to create growth. With our present economic calamity, we cannot afford any more destructive behaviour.
We cannot expect to see growth when some are building while others demand and destroy.
Producing for growth
An economic report published in September indicates that the government- and financial sectors made up almost 40% of our country’s GDP during the second term. Unfortunately neither of them are actually producing anything. They are dependent on what is produced in the remaining 60% of the economy.
The one question we all need to answer is to what extent are we producing and thus contributing to the growth of a post-covid-19 economy? Without productive growth we will all be caught up in the downward spiral of economic deficiency.
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