You are both brilliant and speaking toward a higher truth of what humanity can and must aim for. Which of our psychoses are not symptoms of economic trauma from a white-patriarchal economy that perpetuates an elitist meritocracy and fundamental human divisions rather than unity with all life? From violent oppression to micro-agressions, to unseen ageism or mistrust between men and women, we see the blind biases built from an economy with a flawed DNA. Living in an economy that pits us against one another and against life itself creates the sociopath within all of us, who is trained to walk past the inevitable homeless- weaving mental stories to legitimize our choice to ignore. These stories range from "the problem is too big for me to solve," to "they must be too mentally ill, addicted, lazy or flawed in some way." As more people get close to homelessness, we begin to blame the victim less and appropriately blame the system more. But the economic textbooks continue to uphold a narrative that homelessness is an aspect of reality that underscores that basic truth of scarcity. This Econ 101 meme is a sales pitch for the dirty DNA that is a profit-motivated economy where we are all fish, and our survival and potential are dependent on an imperial monetary monopoly. While DNA is manipulated in genetics, it remains largely unaddressed in our human-created economic system. I believe it is of utmost importance to continuously draw attention to the flaws in the system that perpetuate the flaws in human character. We are a nascent species of reactive social beings. Let us design an economy of transcendence, where we know what we aim for, peace, prosperity, regeneration, and wellbeing for all. Let us learn to be prosocial, not anti-social. To respond in alignment with our higher goals, not react. To do this, we must redesign the DNA of the economic system to align with our north star, as this is what most impacts our sense of security and our sense of reality. As I bring these concepts into my high school economics classroom, and focus more on assessing the development of prosocial skills in students, (compassion, social connection, a sense of coherence, cultural consciousness, and the ability to co-create) and less on regurgitating the economic principles that relegate life itself to an externality, I'm also struck by the reality that most brains are living in trauma, and trauma diminishes our ability to think together. Trauma-informed economics education therefore will be a long road of holding space for one another and simultaneously piloting and reiterating solutions that achieve our highest goals. I invite critique, as I can only ever hold part of the story, even as I hold the wellbeing of all in my heart and mind.
