What is Progress? - Part 3

Now that we have covered economic progress we can get into social progress. As defined before I define social progress as advancement in the number and depth of relationships.

Economic progress is sufficient that there is no technical reason why the whole of humanity couldn't live in a connected and dignified way. Obviously that is not the reality of the world we live in so why isn't it? The answer can be found in social progress. To approach the concept I'll describe a society with a very regressive social structure and the affects followed by what I think is possible.

Regressive Social Structure
Regressivestan is a troubled country. Families are often broken, leaving many children with little or not structure. This, along with the lack of opportunity leads to significant crime and drug problems. There is significant distrust between groups and self serving attitudes prevail across the board. Economic, racial, and even geographic differences function as almost impenetrable cultural walls. With all the degraded relationships there is a distinct lack of national or shared cultural identity.

So while they are rich with natural resources and have even been able to develop many of them, and while this has allowed the country access to expensive and advanced technology, most of the people live in abject poverty. The rich are very rich, the poor are very poor. There is extensive abuse of power both by the rich and by government leaders. Corruption is the rule of the day. The only way to be successful is to have a lot of money so economic mobility is really not a thing.

All this because of a weakness in relationships. A strong nation is built on strong marriages, strong families, strong communities, strong business agreements, and strong public trust of public institutions.

Which brings us to...

Progressive Social Structure
Next door to Regressivestan is an amazing country called Amazingstan. Amazingstan has a very high marriage rate and very low divorce rate. Community structures are rock solid. Most misbehavior is handled at a very low level so crime and incarceration in general are at very low rates. Children grow up in secure environments which allows them to dream and explore. Amazingstan has quite a lot of diversity both in economic terms as well as a large variety of ethnic backgrounds. Despite the differences in culture the groups do a great job of getting to know each other, celebrating their differences and fostering a culture of good will. There is a widespread understanding that everyone in Amazingstan is working towards the same goals making even members of widely disparage economic situations sympathize with each other's struggles.

Amazingstan is not a country with rich natural resources. However, they work very hard to conserve what they have and put everything to the best use possible. That ethic combined with the stability of their culture combines to make Amazingstan significantly more prosperous than Regressivestan despite being a smaller and more resource poor nation.

Conclusion
With the diversity of media, culture, experiences, and wealth, we have in these United States it makes it very difficult for us to relate to everyone. We do not have a single common point to relate on. That discontinuity of culture combined with an increasingly ethicsless society creates an environment where cross cultural relationships and relationships in general become fewer and weaker.

We are rapidly trending towards Regressivestan, but there is one way that the trend can be stopped. Not just stopped though, but reversed at full speed. That involves adding a point of commonality. A set of perspectives and experiences that as they become more widespread will naturally lead to the trickle up affect of national unity. That commonality is Jesus. As individuals of a nation turn to G-d and seek His will for their lives the relationships they have will get stronger. They will naturally build more diverse relationships. The more this happens the more the culture of the nation will naturally begin shifting to look more like Amazingstan. It won't require passing new laws. It won't even require electing new leaders. The change can happen with the exact people we have today or whatever mix we have tomorrow.

We can progress as a society. We just need G-d's help to do it.