Summary of Born on Third Base part V - Ch 14 - Kaitlyn Francel
The author, Chuck Collins, opens this chapter talking about his friend, Edith, that is in her late 40s. He describes an interaction that they have in which Edith is crying because she is living paycheck to paycheck, and there are layoffs occurring in her company. He feels extreme pain for her and delves into the story of how the stock market crash of 2008 affected her and many others. Following this experience, the author goes to church and his eyes are opened to how people are struggling. Many people that he thought were fine, were really missing the cash to do small important tasks, such as transportation to the doctor, or fixing a window. Thus, the church built community groups called Resilience Circles, which are essentially mutual aid support groups. In these groups, people supported each other by aiding in tasks, learning more about the economy together, and creating a social movement. The groups met twice monthly and people came in with their "gifts" and "needs," essentially a list of things that a person could offer to another, and things that the same person needed to ask for. This turned into a beautiful internal social exchange where people exchanged goods or services without the use of money or reliance on larger businesses and companies.
Collins comes to realize that large influencers tell us that we should not rely on one another and that instead, we need to be independent individuals. This encourages and benefits the large economic businesses, but poisons social interaction and networks. The author discovers that by sharing and coexisting with one another, more resources can be utilized at a lower price, which can help many struggling groups of people out tremendously. The author discusses that people often lack the ability to ask others for help when they need it, even though everyone does need help at some point in their life. And these Resilience circles gave people the ability to get used to asking and giving, not as charity, but as a group of interconnected people.
At the end of the chapter, Collins explains that a wealthy couple wanted to donate money to the Resilience Circle, but that the Circle humbly declined. They did so because it just wasn't what they stood for as a group. This again proves that money is not the key to life, it is human interaction and the ability to help one another out in times of need. And that is how Collins wraps up this beautiful chapter, by calling for a strengthening of human interaction and interdependence.
The author, Chuck Collins, opens this chapter talking about his friend, Edith, that is in her late 40s. He describes an interaction that they have in which Edith is crying because she is living paycheck to paycheck, and there are layoffs occurring in her company. He feels extreme pain for her and delves into the story of how the stock market crash of 2008 affected her and many others. Following this experience, the author goes to church and his eyes are opened to how people are struggling. Many people that he thought were fine, were really missing the cash to do small important tasks, such as transportation to the doctor, or fixing a window. Thus, the church built community groups called Resilience Circles, which are essentially mutual aid support groups. In these groups, people supported each other by aiding in tasks, learning more about the economy together, and creating a social movement. The groups met twice monthly and people came in with their "gifts" and "needs," essentially a list of things that a person could offer to another, and things that the same person needed to ask for. This turned into a beautiful internal social exchange where people exchanged goods or services without the use of money or reliance on larger businesses and companies.
Collins comes to realize that large influencers tell us that we should not rely on one another and that instead, we need to be independent individuals. This encourages and benefits the large economic businesses, but poisons social interaction and networks. The author discovers that by sharing and coexisting with one another, more resources can be utilized at a lower price, which can help many struggling groups of people out tremendously. The author discusses that people often lack the ability to ask others for help when they need it, even though everyone does need help at some point in their life. And these Resilience circles gave people the ability to get used to asking and giving, not as charity, but as a group of interconnected people.
At the end of the chapter, Collins explains that a wealthy couple wanted to donate money to the Resilience Circle, but that the Circle humbly declined. They did so because it just wasn't what they stood for as a group. This again proves that money is not the key to life, it is human interaction and the ability to help one another out in times of need. And that is how Collins wraps up this beautiful chapter, by calling for a strengthening of human interaction and interdependence.
I love how beautifully you tell the Resilience Circles story, thank you!
ReplyDelete-Kaela
Even though we were relatively young in the stock market crash of 2008, this summary sheds some light on how many people it actually affected. It is nice to read about communities coming together to support one another.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Baer
I love the final paragraph of this. Money definitely plays a huge role in our lives but it definitely isn't even close to the most important thing and you summed that up really well!
ReplyDelete-Christian
I really enjoyed hearing about this story because I agree that people are too shy or embarrassed to ask for help sometimes and that trend should stop! Its nice to have a large group of friends that you can lean on.
ReplyDelete