We are the 1%

I should start with a caveat right up front:  I support the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I support the actions of anyone who feels unheard, making themselves heard, peacefully.  And if I weren't so concerned with how an arrest on my record would impact my ability to travel, I might just head to one of the protests in solidarity.

But... and this is a big but...  we are totally off the mark if we are protesting against large banks and corporations while creating an artificial "us" and "them" situation.  There is no "them".  There is only "us".

If you have an interest-bearing bank account, if you have a credit card or line of credit, if you have RRSP or retirement investments, if you have investments for your child's education, then you are in the 1%.  In other words, unless you've taken whatever money you've earned directly from your labour, and tucked it under your mattress, you're part of the system.

It's true.

We don't like to admit it.  We want to blame those who are very rich.  But we are all culpable.  We want our money to magically multiply when we aren't looking.  We don't ask questions about what the banks or corporations do to make that money.  We don't care, as long as we get some interest. The very rich might get a significantly larger slice of the pie than we do, but it's all the same pie.

We know there aren't fairies off somewhere printing currency, and making deposits into our accounts.

Somewhere in our consciousness we must know that we profit from companies that strip the rain forests, pollute water, foreclose on our neighbours, and forever alter the genetic make-up of our food.

I admit that I struggle with this.  A lot.  I have some money invested.  I work for myself, so am counting on that money keeping me from homelessness when I'm old.  But I often wonder, at what price?

I'm not saying that money is evil or that we shouldn't have it.

I am saying that if we think we're outside of the system, we're deluding ourselves.

The 99% grow our food without protection from chemical sprays so we can have the cheap and beautiful-looking food that we demand.  The 99% work in sweatshops, so we can buy cheap goods.  The 99% lose their lives mining minerals needed for the manufacture of our gadgets, so we can stay entertained.  The 99% get sick from breaking up our toxic computer waste and breaking up the ships that carry those cheap goods to us across the ocean.  The 99% work every day of their lives until they die, in part because of the lifestyle we enjoy.

So the question isn't how do we stop "them".  The question is what will we do?