One such person is named Grand--Ma-Ma Judy Wicks, the author of
Good Morning, Beautiful Business: The Unexpected Journey of an
Activist, Entrepreneur and Local Exonomy Pioneer. Those
studying it today find it hard to believe that this book was
(r)evolutionarly two centuries ago; it just seems like common
business sense. "BB," as scholars now call it, was one of the
founding documents of our modern age! I wonder if Grand-Ma-Ma Judy
expected to be a Founding Mother to our current day...or is this,
too, an unexpected aspect of her journey? Yes, her work helped us
to free ourselves from the tyranny of globalized corporate rule and
the criminality of the primary banking system.
Of course there were also other "Mothers" of her day, such as
Grand-Ma-Ma Ellen Brown, who was an advocate of what used to be
called Public Banking. Despite the best efforts of the early 21
st century status-quo to silence them and the corporate
owned major media to drown them out, their voice on behalf of the
grassroots was popping up all over, rather like dandelions (then
cosidered weeds in wastelands called "lawns" rather than tonic
herbs).
Today, we ask, what other kind of banking is there than public
banking? Yes, we have seed banks, food banks, and energy banks,
libraries, and community storm shelters. Banking has sure evolved
as a concept. All that is stored for future emergencies is, of
course, part of the commons, to be used when needed by all of life.
After all, who claims the air as one's own? Or the waters? All are
public domain. This Earth is operated and owned by all
creatures--not just a handful of human beings. (Oops, sorry Gaia,
of course nobody can "own" a self-sustaining, living being!)
Grand-Ma-Ma Judy Wicks taught us the importance of building local
economies where goods are produced close to home which then build
more material wealth. This has been a win-win for our communities,
the Earth, and our families and individuals. Nobody starves today,
and all their food is produced anywhere from between 0 -- 25 miles.
The distorted notion that anyone could be left to starve has become
grotesque.
In today's world, we don't see community, Earth and family as being
separate as our ancestors did. We are all cells in one living
being. We are Nature and Nature is us. This is why these ancients
had such a problem with a sense of belonging. They were alienated
from Nature, their Self. They ate in "fast-food" restaurants where
the food was standardized, shipped in from who-knows-where, and
served to them by faceless peons of the corporate system. Thus they
treated the people and creatures of the Earth as nothing more nor
less than resources to be exploited, just as they saw the gold, gas
and oil as resources to be exploited.
To get a gist of how the corporate ancients worked, consider a
fetus who takes a knife to his mother's womb. How sane is that?
Yes, this is exactly how the ancients worked in relation to the
Earth. (Of course, we understand that theirs was just an abberant
era; those that they considered "the ancients" and "uncivilized"
knew the truth as we understand it. "Civilized" was interpreted as
a good thing in the 19 th through early 21st
centuries, not as "enslaved" as we now define the word.) Yet, they
named themselves Homo Sapiens, meaning Wise Men? This was purely
from a stance of arrogance. Afterall, wisdom was not mimicked in
behavior. How can one see destroying the world that gives one air
to breathe, naturally healthy food to eat, and fresh water to drink
as wise? Today we realize that Nature, being Natural, is what is
wise. Thus, being sapien today means being natural. This makes it
inclusive of all beings on Earth.
Grand-Ma-Ma Judy Wicks' common-sense teachings stood in stark
contrast to the ancients who thought of gain in terms of the
acheivement of personal wealth. What they didn't realize was that
there is no personal wealth upon a dead planet. I'm sure glad a
subset of our ancestors like Judy Wicks knew that wealth was
expressed through love for each other and the Earth.
Whew, we fortunate descendents of Grand-Ma-Ma Judy are sure glad
there was a subset like her that spoke to a sane economy based on
locality and service to the local communities. Imagine businesses
that were not responsive to the local community needs, run by folks
from afar whom you would never know and would never stoop to know
you. These people supplied the population with raw materials and
goods across great distances, destroyed the environment, and did
not encourage community spirit and fun! Imagine never dancing,
singing, and laughing with your neighboring shop-keepers, farmers,
and craftspeople. Imagine having your education, employment, and
income at the mercy of the very people that were growing rich at
your expense! It's practically unthinkable today, but that's how it
was then, in the Kali Yuga or Dark Age, as Hindu wise ones called
the Great Ecocide.
Judy taught us to rekindle the connection and balance between head
and heart, or what she referred to as yin and yang. As we all know
today, the head is the surface layer consciousness of reason and
logic whereas the heart is the deeper layers of consciousness that
includes compassion, intution, creative impulses and the language
of dream. The former is more divisive and uses concrete language
where as the latter is more integrative and uses metaphor, which is
a language that connects.
Judy and her fellow visionaries also taught us to think past
ourselves, to open our hearts to future generations as well as how
we affect others in our immediate time frame. Thus we readapted the
old Native American traditions of thinking through a decision's
effects for seven generations. Thank Nature that the ancients
slowly began to do this. Otherwise, I wouldn't be telling this
story! I'd just be a starring twinkle in Mother Nature's eye. Oh,
perhaps that's what I am anyway?
It truly was a tough journey that our ancestors made. They had to
confront their own self-doubts and fears in the face of a
tyrannical system. They had to reject much of what they'd been
carefully taught. Not only were they afraid of the "powers that
be;" but they didn't realize their own power! They gazed to the top
of their pyramidical structure and saw no hope, for they did not
realize that if they, the base of the pyramid, pulled out, the top
would come crashing down. Who truly has the power? See, the
ancients at the bottom had no sense of this. They just looked to
the top and surrendered to them.
The ancients oftentimes had horrible self-esteem. Judy taught them
that they need to overcome the barriers saying they were not good
enough. Much of this was planned for through education, television,
etc which used specific techniques such as ridicule at worse to
just saying "oh you can't do that because you are a girl, a black,
or otherwise an underling." Or, they put on television sports
"jocks" who were so highly proficient at their sport that the
majority of people could not hope to match them. Thus, they
developed a sense of "can't". But, the "can't" mentality wasn't
just in sports, it was in education and other avenues of
culture.
What was important to Judy was that people could have the freedom
to express who they were through their work. For her, that was her
business, a cafe on Philadelphia's old Samson Street, which was a
collection of "quaint" row homes. Business for her was about
relationship and what was called money in those days was for her
simply a tool. What she taught us was that the authentic
relationships of the business owners to the customers, workers,
community, and the Earth were what's important. What she ultimately
decided to do was change the failed economic system from one
dominated by transnational corporations to ones based on local
self-reliance. This was the foundational teaching for what we have
today. This is bottom up rule.
Thus, I sit here in this small cafe upon land that was historically
the Maiden Choice Shopping Center. I gaze at the greenery and
realize the Maiden as being Earth Herself. I write out my talk with
you on this table, made of local stones and carved to perfection by
the masons living close by. The rocks do their story telling as do
the masons. Thus, I tell the story through my breath which enters
your ears.
It's the stories of the past, our heros and heroines, that have
created the world we have today. I breathe in the fresh, crisp fall
air and I whisper a deep "thanks" to people like Grand-Ma-Ma Judy
Wicks. Will you do the same? Or shall we devolve again into pawns
of the great god Greed, under whatever name, disguise, and
propaganda he should emerge?
To listen in present day to Judy Hicks being interviewed by
Envision This! Radio, visit:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/11/06/judy-wicks-good-morning-beautiful-business
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