economicmultipliers_44

Economic Multipliers (44)

Do you know what these are?

They help CREATE wealth in systems.

Understanding the significance of words can be an economic multiplier.

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I included a once banned (in some parts of the world) book: Lady Chatterley’s Lover in a piece on economic multipliers. In some circles, even people who have never read the book might ban my work. That’s how the world works.

As a bit of a prude, I can’t ever imagine having a conversation regarding the ‘steamier’ parts with anyone other than someone I’d consider a potential spouse but the flip side is that if I ever had had kids, I’d want the teenage or 20 something version of them to read the book so I could have a conversation with them regarding what I would call ‘talking points.’

For instance: There are no pictures. I consider that to be a good thing because at that age, I think it’s a good thing for kids to start THINKING about how their body feels and how it would feel and how they fit into it and I believe visual stimulation can take away from that process.

Likewise, although the book features two married individuals who get into a relationship, neither makes or takes the decision lightly and both believe they should use ‘protection’ (keep in mind that this book was written in the 1920’s).

The married individuals who do get intimate are not having any kind of physical relationships with their spouses and neither will in the future (one because of a disability and one because of a separation).

The gameskeeper rose through the ranks in the military and became a very educated man in his 20’s (by choice) but floats between his ‘old’ world and the ‘new’ world he could live in. If he had emigrated to the United States during the time period featured, he probably would have been a very successful businessman. In his home country (in that time period), he was bound by ‘class.’

Nations across the world were adapting to industrialization and it was causing great social upheaval (somewhat similar to the technological upheaval we’re experiencing today).

Everyone in the book is trying to balance their work and personal lives along with their personal relationships with the others in their lives … and a lot always seems to not be working.

It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the individuals who own a copy of this book have highlighted specific sections … but then I’d also expect that those would be the individuals who might miss the ‘talking points’ which would help their kids develop the critical thinking skills necessary in order for them to have happy, healthy (and I believe I used the word ‘lucky’ before) relationships.

In the same piece, I included James Michener’s book: The Drifters. All of the ‘kids’ in the book had some ‘trouble’ in their lives and once again, the book was written during a time of much social upheaval. The ‘kids’ featured weren’t (on the whole) always making choices that would give them the futures they might say they wanted … but they didn’t know what they wanted either … because the choices that seemed available also didn’t seem to fit with who they were.

I think James Michener wanted kids to have an opportunity to ‘try on’ some options and explore some choices without having to get in trouble with the law, get hooked on drugs, get a sexually transmitted disease or even die (as one of the main characters did). I think he wanted kids to say … well, bad choices are things to be read about … good choices are what a good life is made of … and good and bad are not always as black and white as they seem.

Talking points … those are the things that I found in D. H. Lawrence’s and James Michener’s words … the significance of their words for me.

I keep in the back of my mind that fiction is fiction but a good fiction writer always provides ‘talking points.’

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P.S. If motorized wheelchairs were available in the 1920’s, why does it seem like so little time and attention has been focused on keeping people mobile since then? Imagine what all those robotic minded high school students could accomplish in their communities if they used some of their time and energy to ‘mobilize’ their communities (one set of wheels at a time) while learning electronics, welding, machining, etc.