A response to “The Serviceberry” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The gift economy already exists. All you have to do is join it. But before you decide to do that, here’s a quick definition in case you haven’t heard of this term “the gift economy” before.
Examples of the gift economy:
- Little free libraries
- Free food boxes in your neighborhood.
- Public parks, roads, and bathrooms
- Gardeners who share their harvest
- Sharing what you have, such as cigarettes, sodas, dollars with someone who is simply in need.
- Stopping to help a stranger who might be lost, injured, or simply confused or frightened.
- Getting to know your neighbors. Helping where you can.
- Offering a ride, a bus pass or a free travel resource. Like piggy back rides!
- All parenting is a gift. There’s no monetary exchange or obligation involved. A person with conscience will feel an obligation later in life. That is called reciprocity. It might not be direct, it might not be directly to the people who cared for you, but it might be to someone who cared for others as well.
- The Nashville Greenway
- Public libraries
- Public schools
- Free Farm stands
- Food giveaways from churches and others.
- Helping a friend to move rather than having them pay to move.
- Peer to peer lending
- Cooperative Farms
- A person who helps you change your tire on the side of the road.
The thing to remember is that we commodify things because it requires work to get the thing to the market. We want to be paid for our time. But this arrangement has been warped and twisted over time by people who were influential thinkers in the past.
Many men from the past who were considered prominent thinkers have shaped our ideas in the present. Let me give you an example.
Garrett Hardin wrote “The Tragedy of the Commons” in 1968. His theory, now taken as gospel by selfish men everywhere, states that men cannot be trusted with resources held in common. They will inevitably destroy the Commonwealth. (Nary a mention of corporate stealing, slaughter and resource decimation.) Never has a group of people relying on each other destroyed the resources everyone relied on. It was not until the introduction of the concept of private property that destruction to communities and nature occurred.
We have so many contradictory examples of the commons as a sustainable resource. Libraries being a prominent one. People share books and treat them nicely all the time. People share public parks and treat them pretty well most of the time. With a belief like, “people will destroy and take advantage whenever possible,” deeply ingrained in our culture, it is a surprise that the commons are treated so well. Most people’s beliefs run counter to this idea that we all share something that we are all dependent on and that we cannot get away from called the Earth.
- “All flourishing is mutual” – Robin Wall Kimmerer
- The Serviceberry is my teacher
- To give away is to become rich and secure
- Indirect reciprocity helps us all to thrive
- Commodification of gifts freely given by the earth, such as soil, water, air and plants violates the nature of the gift.
- To give is to signify that you are thriving. If you are not thriving, giving means you get to join the community that is thriving.
- Giving of your time and resources creates a bond that is far stronger than any commodified transaction.
Dr. Elinor Ostrum won the Nobel prize in Economic Sciences by proving that “collective action, trust, and cooperation can lead to the mutual well-being of land and people without degrading commonly held resources.” – R.W. Kimmerer
So what are we waiting for? Let’s jump in and build or continue to build our network of the gift economy.