Dear politician,

When you are programming your campaign, please strongly consider humanity and not so much money. If you do think of money, preferably think of ways to make money yield its power. Join up with your colleagues. At home as well as abroad. Of course, not with the monetocrats (or those adhering to politics and government solely dictated by money).

Living or happiness standard?

Our society is losing more and more of its humanity. Everything is done for the “insensitive” money, that is gradually taking control of everything. And that is dehumanizing our society and its people. This trend must be reverted.

People are incited by marketing to always consume more and more. They are incited to not be satisfied with what they have or with themselves as persons either. They are supposed to look like movie stars by whatever means. They are expected to consume ever more. People have to work harder and harder. In a family, both parents have to work to make ends meet (often, they cannot) or to be able to correspond with the image of the ideal consumer as presented by business and most of the media as well The luxury media, perpetuating this kind of image in empty soaps and what not. It is like going round in circles.

Is this progress? Should the yardstick of the “living standard” not be joined by a “standard of happiness”?

Warmth of a family

It is a pity that hardworking parents hardly have any time anymore for their children or for themselves as human beings. Of course, there are day care centres and the like. But nothing can equal the warmth of a family.

Our consumption society has been built on rules dictated by money. And this is going on and on. Always buying and selling more products. Always new ones. The DVD had just reached its adulthood and was already replaced by something a bit “better”, but according to marketing the thing to have as a consumer to be “in” and “exclusive” (“exclusive” – together with “new” is probably the most abused word in marketing and most people are not aware of it).

Consuming and consuming

Making stacks of money and consuming ever more is logical, most economists will say. Because it keeps the economy go round.

No, we say. One of the reasons being that the value of a human being is hardly taken into account. This value determines happiness. And the happiness of the people determines the health of the society they live in. Violence is a barometer of this health.

What do you feel you are worth? Not in money terms, but in human value. That is what really matters. Everyone needs appreciation and satisfaction. Less and less people feel they are really appreciated as human beings.

Raw material

Many companies consider the worker as a kind of raw material that you have to use in as limited quantities as possible and at the lowest possible cost. To them, workers are often just a mathematical number without a face. Robotization and transfer of operations to low-wage countries are tools in the hands of figure-driven managers. Some of them go as far as to employ young children in those countries. How could it be otherwise? Here they lay off people as if they were worn-off clothes.

To many companies (luckily there are exceptions) money is the only thing that matters. They dance around it like around a holy fire (one day, it may well consume them). They have to produce as much money as possible so shareholders and managers can be paid regal remunerations and do not abandon the company overnight. Of course, we understand they need to be remunerated, but to what extent and at what cost? At the cost of humanity? We hope that you too as a politician and human being will feel this is deadly wrong.

Gaping contrasts

When some thirty years ago we heard that in a developing country the wages of the boss were up to 100 times higher than the ones of the employees, we were shocked. Especially when we saw the painful contrast between poor and rich. Now we read that in the West the difference can be of 1 to 500. The economy is clearly not turning round. Many managers only dedicate themselves to figures and have no sense of proportion anymore.

Stock exchanges are increasingly turning into temples for the new god: money (golden calf?). Speculators and big shareholders are the high priests. The offers they bring are workers and companies not performing well enough (anymore).

Ethics and common sense

Where are the ethics or human values in all of this? Somewhere in an urn? Completely burnt-up?

If nothing is done shortly about humanity in business and in day-to-day-life, workers will turn into mere robots. A pity! They are human beings deserving respect. Respect in all sectors of our society seems to be shrinking fast.

The philosophy in business should be: what can we do to bring more humanity or to maintain it? How can we keep a healthy balance between money and human decency?

Not as happens now: what can we do to earn as much money as possible? The ideal for speculators and a lot of shareholders and managers seems to be to earn money without any costs.

Financialization versus humanization

The financialization of our society simply goes way beyond what is acceptable. There is an urgent need for humanization. Human values need be centre-stage again. Workers and everyone for that matter deserve to be treated as human beings.

A human being is a precious product. A product of a deeply human value: love. You deal with it showing respect and care. Human beings treated in a human way, will show more humanity too. Resulting in a more solid society with less violence. Happy people rarely commit violence.

Keeping people happy should be the main aim of politicians and of businessmen.

If you share our views, we wish you success in your campaign.

Come to our site www.danellandia.org regularly for inspiration on how to boost humanity.

Many thanks and warm greetings.