Perspectives from the Periphery: An Introduction

Perspectives from the periphery: the label intentionally chosen for this blog.

Web dictionaries define periphery as "the outskirts or edge." The periphery, from a medical perspective, is "where the nerves end."

Where the nerves end. . .

Nerves are the source of feelings. Without nerves there would be no awareness of pain, the awareness of something awry, and no connection to another through a handshake, hug, massage, pat or stroke. Nerves' messages can be so vastly different, yet vastly valuable if the human system is to function wholly. Nerves protect the core.

Protecting the core is also a societal function. Soldiers guard the perimeter, the periphery, during times of civil unrest or even war. But they do so at great cost. Too often the soldier becomes the sacrifical lamb on behalf of a center whose values they may or may not share.

But for those outside the perimeter, those on the periphery, there is no safe space. They live on the periphery, at the nerves' ends, where no one is aware of their pain.

Under colonialism and imperialism those in the core extract raw materials from the periphery and destroy nature's balance in the process. The extracted raw materials are then consumed or manufactured and then sent back to the periphery at high cost to the buyers and great profit for the core. Or the goods are shipped outside the system, again at high cost to the buyers and great profit for the core. Shipping outside has another cost, however, for the providers of the original materials. When product is shipped outside the system, the source of the goods never receive the true value of the resources. Eventually the resources are depleted and the providers are left with no means to buy necessities, And in the United States, unbridled capitalism has the same result.

The resource providers live on the perimeter, isolated from the core, at the end of the nerves. We see evidence of this in the news daily. Oil workers dead from another fire. Miners killed in another mining accident. But those incidents have no face. The maimed and the dead live on the periphery. Unseen. Ignored. Unless they find a way to band together, fight past the soldiers, and push against the core.

In the United States, during the late 20s and early 30s, those on the fringes united. One impetus for the battle for workers' rights was the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire where hundreds of workers died. Blocked and locked exits forced workers to jump to their death or burn to death.

History will repeat itself. As then, a precious few hold the country's resources and exploit those on the periphery. But the exploited will arise, unite and fight. Do we help them now while we have power and opportunity to collaborate for a mutually agreeable solution? Or do we ignore the warning signs, and just wait to see what happens, hoping that the revolt won't happen in our lifetime?

"This is the fast I have chosen," the Bible says. "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor that are cast out (that are on the periphery); when you see the naked that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you," Isaiah 58:6-8).

In the end, the one benefited will be our own selves, for God will have our back. That is not just a promise. It is truth. For it is in giving that we best receive. It is in helping that we are helped. It is by loving that we are loved.

Nothing Left But The Bones

Fall has stripped this tree of all but the bones.

In spring and summer, the leaves provide food for the tree and oxygen for the breathing creatures living within its ecosystem. Through the leaves, the tree gives and takes away.

But now it's fall and the potential for giving and taking lies dormant, awaiting the warmer temperatures and increased sunlight that will restore life.

And the giving and the taking.

A natural process fewer and fewer Americans seem to understand.

The middle class is pushed to the periphery, stripped of the ability to obtain that which is necessary for survival. And with the pushing goes the ability to give and receive. The rhythm of life.

An attorney recently said to me that there is nothing wrong with an employer refusing to pay a sustainable wage. "The employee can always work somewhere else."

I said that employers are stealing. Theft includes refusing to pay the value of a person's labor as well as stealing bread.

But even if it wasn't stealing, the employers are taking advantage of the employees who are afraid to leave for something better. Jobs are scarce, as the thousands of unemployed shows. Even scarcer are jobs paying a sustainable wage. The CEOs, the bankers, the hedge funds steal more and more from society.

And, yes, most do it legally. But that misses the point. Society pays for the greed.

Those whose income barely covers food, shelter and transportation cannot buy the goods that keep the economy going.

Those who can afford only food and transportation fill the streets or the homes and apartments of families and friends. The economy shrinks and governments suffer as property tax income goes down and housing doesn't sell.

Those without health insurance depend on a network to pay medical bills, go bankrupt because of medical debt, or do without. But someone somewhere pays their bills. They take without giving back, whether they want to or not.

Those without adequate health insurance, without adequate nutrition, without rest, if they have jobs, perform their jobs less well. That lowers productivity, which hurts the employer.

Those working two, three or four jobs to survive cannot volunteer in the community, contribute to the political conversation, participate in family life.

Through this blog, I hope to at least give those stripped to the bone a voice.