Business Sanity

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Written by Syntara Sarych   
Saturday, 22 September 2012 14:06
The purpose of business -- of being in business -- is primarily to produce commodities and services that strive for the betterment of the human condition. Secondary to that should be profits earned for the undertaking of contributing to the betterment of humankind. If profits result, consider it a reward for a job well done.

To those who say they are in business to make money I can only surmise that they mean what they say: that their primary goal is not to contribute something of value to society, but with obvious Randian selfishness to be in it for personal gain and with careless abandon -- 'to heck' with whether what they do impedes or benefits anybody else.

That is not the way a 'civilized' culture can remain civilized. It will devolve into a vicious, dog-eat-dog sub-culture of hedonism and excess and self-serving agendas that will end in collapse as the civilization implodes upon itself.

Rugged individualism is fine and I support it. But we are all members of a society; of a culture, and to be a successful, thriving civilization takes more than rugged individualism. It takes cooperation. And much as some don't want to believe it, within a society exist inter-dependencies for each of us with all other members of a society at all levels.

We are not easily classifiable as always being either the 'haves' or the 'have-nots.' We are not classifiable as always being either the givers or the takers in all things and in all ways in our journey through life. We may take a role as teacher at some point, and as student at another point. To assume one will always be the giver to someone else' taker position or one will always be the teacher to someone else' student position is self-righteous in the least.

We are interdependent on each other no matter our station in life or our individual perceptions of belonging to one class within a culture over another. To keep a civilization and its culture strong and thriving requires each of us to have a sense of humility as well as a sense of pride, and in that, a sense of knowing when each is appropriate.

To endeavor to create, to carry out a role in society that we can call our profession -- one that speaks to the business we each engage in throughout life requires enough pride to be able to put forth what we have to offer and enough humility to know we depend on the acceptance of what we have to offer by others without resorting to tricks or treachery. To do anything less will result in the downfall of a civilization as it becomes corrupted into the state of predator and prey.

This, I think can be the danger of capitalism. When in its extreme form, it becomes a state of predator and prey rather than one of competitive effort to create commodities and services that build upon each other and that do result in the evolving betterment of human existence for all members of a civilization.

Let's keep in mind the dangers of a civilization gone terribly wrong in a culture that prizes and rewards personal gain more than it does cooperative contribution. Let's work together to encourage the kind of society that advances civilization rather than steals from it.
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