If you really want to understand the basic equation of all the problems that we, our communities, our country and the world has, it is this:

We value money more than we value people, our humanity and a good existence or life.

OK, so there are plenty of ways that we tell and convince ourselves that we live and experience good lives. But have you noticed how pretty much 99.9% of the time, our happiness or how we feel about something or an experience we are having, all comes down to using something that has been paid for or bought?

The money obsession or conditioning that we all have, means we place a financial value on everything.

We look at every part of life in terms of what the direct or indirect material value of everything is. The only exception to this is the relationships that we have with people we genuinely care about and what those relationships mean to us.

We are, in effect, completely absorbed in the way that we now live and how we perceive everything. This means that we are blinded to the alternative way of life that exists, which would be better for us all, in every healthy, balanced, fair and just way that is imaginable.

We don’t see that money or the lack of money, is the common factor with all the problems that we, our communities, the country and the world has. That there is never enough of it. And as more is created, the disparity between those with less and those with more gets wider and wider as the value that either rich or poor possesses also gets further and further apart.

For as long as material wealth continues to be the value set or benchmark that makes this world work, because of the belief that we all place in it, the number of problems that society has will continue to grow. There will be fewer and fewer solutions available to solve the growing number of problems that society has.

The alternative to this system and the hurt that it is causing those who believe they benefit in some way, is the complete rejection of the money based order and The System as we know it.

The solution to all our problems is the adoption of a people first economy, that places the value on people, humanity, community, our environment, the legacy and the responsibility that we have to all others, above money either being a benchmark for life, or being considered in any way to be and be valued as a ‘thing’.

The way this will be achieved is through the adoption, implementation and assurance of The Basic Living Standard.

The Basic Living Standard equation or formula is this:

All individuals will be able to support themselves fully on the equivalent of the lowest paid weekly wage, in a basic and healthy way, without debt or the need of support or help from any 3^rd Party.

All laws, regulations, administrative and business practices shall reflect this basic requirement that underlines the basis of a truly just, fair and balanced society, and how it will operate and thrive.

The reaction that you may have might be that ‘This is impossible’. ‘This isn’t the way that the world works’. ‘You are suggesting we go backwards and live in what we understand to be feudal times’.

But this is not the case.

What you are hearing from that excitable voice from within, is the resistance to change of a system that you have been convinced is still serving you well.

But The System isn’t serving you well. The System isn’t serving any of us well.

The System is serving money and everything to do with money very well indeed. And the cost to us as individuals, as communities, as a country and as a world, is much greater than anything that the lie which is money can buy.

Few will see or be able to visualise the shift that will exist once the transition from a money obsessed way of living, to one that is truly people-centric in every way, until it actually exists. And as we walk forward into the uncertainties that lie in 2023 and the years that lie ahead, this is indeed the biggest problem and the biggest obstacle to better lives, good health and the real happiness that so few of us consciously recognise as being what we are missing from our lives and that we so desperately want.

The choice, as always, is yours. Together, it is ours.

This is about people and values. Our abuse of people and values is what all the challenges we are now facing are about. This is the outcome that all the difficulties we must now experience are for.

In my last blog written towards the end of last week, I was making light of the reality that with my elderly Mum passing away on Christmas Eve, the anniversary of my Dad’s passing on 12^th Night had effectively meant the two of them had managed to sandwich the whole of the Christmas period inbetween.

Sat at the bar, in The Old Elm, Churchdown, as I was, I found myself talking to a local man I had seen out with his lovely chocolate Labrador. We didn’t talk for long, but in the time that we did, he mentioned that he was a volunteer at the local food bank, which is housed on Cheltenham Road East, at GL3.

Despite visiting Tesco pretty much every day since it opened about 8 years ago, and using the great Barber’s van that parks right outside the Hub every week, the fact that there is a Food Bank based there had completely passed me by.

I was more than a little disappointed, as I had donated a very large amount of in-date items that I had only cleared as I was sorting through my Mum’s things to what I thought was the closest Food Bank in Cheltenham – on that same day!

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter which Food Bank donations go to. But as there is such an extraordinary and growing need for this kind of support – from not just those who we might expect, but from people we really might not think need to ask or go in search for help of this kind – it does of course make sense that any help that we can give should go to our local community and the people who are in need, who we might be passing in the local street each and every day.

You don’t need to be homeless, out of work, without a car, a phone or many other things to be going hungry – no matter what too many of our politicians or other out-of-touch people who have a public platform might so patronisingly declare.

What makes the unfolding tragedy of the cost-of-living-crisis even worse, is the way The System works, where people in positions of authority have made it so, that ongoing help of this kind requires those in need to create a very big official flag telling the world who they are.

Yes, there has to be a way to prevent fraud and abuse of charity and giving. But many people who need help are thinking twice, because of the problems that the knock-on effects of telling the world that they are struggling – for whatever the reason might be – will cause.

I’ve written about ‘Hungry No More’ – serving the people who share the area I live in today who need real help, because whether we need that help ourselves or are able to give it, every local Food Bank needs to be known by us all, for however long a need for them should regrettably remain.

If you are in Churchdown, Innsworth, Longelevens or Longford, or the wider Cheltenham and Gloucester areas and have the ability to help or even spread the word too, Hungry No More are looking for donations that in particular include:

• Long Life Milk
• Squash
• Tinned Vegetables
• Tinned Tomatoes/Passata
• Dried Pasta
• Noodles
• Jars of Pasta/Bake Sauce
• Pasta & Sauce Packets
• Tinned Meals
• Tinned Meat
• Soups
• Tinned Fruit
• Tinned Deserts
• Washing Powder
• Cleaning Products

We are all experiencing an uncertain world and might be surprised by how just easy things could change and for us all to find ourselves needing the help of people who aren’t really strangers, even for just a short time.

Please help Hungry No More if you can. Or if you are reading this from further away, please find or get online and search for your Local Food Bank, or check out orgainsations like The Trussell Trust.

Hungry No More can be contacted by phone on 07824 043895 or by e-mail at innsworthhungrynomore@yahoo.com The address is GL3 Hub, Cheltenham Road East – and they are opposite the Churchdown Tesco.

Thank you everyone – and especially all the local volunteers who are giving so much of their time.