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Ten reasons why everyone benefits from
Pivot’s legal efforts to improve the lives of
marginalized persons:
1. Causes, not symptoms
By using the law to address marginalization
and disenfranchisement, it is possible to address the
root causes of inequity rather than just the symptoms.
This allows for systemic impacts that ripple through
society, affecting many people both now and in the future.
2. Insurance for Everyone
Anyone can fall victim to ill fortune,
regardless of their social or economic standing. A bump
to the head, a run of bad luck, one’s own error.
There are a hundred ways that an individual can lose
hold of their dreams and drift to the edges of society.
Ensuring that those on the margins have a good quality
of life is like taking out an insurance policy for everyone
in society.
3. Indirect costs
Everyone is touched directly or indirectly
by the hardship of impoverishment or marginalization.
Perhaps someone that you know and care for has become
addicted; perhaps your car has been stolen. Perhaps
it is the fear of walking the streets alone at night,
or tax increases to pay for increased policing. The
indirect costs of social marginalization must be measured
along with the direct costs to those affected, and together
they far outweigh the costs of social inclusion and
empowerment.
4. Trickle-up
Advancing the interests of those on the
margins creates a "trickle-up" affect of increased
respect, empowerment and participation for everyone.
Positive and negative actions release an energy that
conserved within the closed system of our society. We
may be once or five times removed from a positive or
negative act; but we feel its impacts even if we are
not aware of the original source. Investing legal efforts
where the need is greatest creates ripples throughout
society to the direct and indirect benefit of all.
5. First alert
The most vulnerable and marginalized persons
in society are like canaries in a mineshaft. They provide
the "first alert" if something threatens the
community; they will be the first to suffer from economic,
social or environmental problems that could spread to
impact everyone. Ensuring that their rights are respected
and upheld is a way of reinforcing the rights of everyone
in the face of economic, social or environmental crises.
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6.
Social Psyche
The process of personal growth involves
learning to accept our darkest places and address the
challenges there with courage and compassion. For a
society to grow, it must undergo the same process. Ignoring
or disengaging from poverty and inequality creates an
emotional curtain which closes us off from ourselves
both personally and as a community. It creates a win/lose
scenario which requires validation through judgment,
fear and distance. It undermines the most positive outcomes,
which involve mutual benefit. Until we overcome the
"block" within our social psyche represented
by neighbourhoods like the Downtown Eastside, we will
never achieve the utopian ideal that is within our grasp
as a community.
7. Rising Tide
"A rising tide raises all boats."
Equality raises the floor on quality of life for everyone
in society.
Equality also creates closer social integration, which
in turn increases the positive impact of energy spent
in relationships between various individuals and groups.
This increases the efficiency and wealth of the community.
8. Investing in abundance
Maximizing the potential abundance of
our community means realizing the full potential contribution
of each individual. Everyone has the potential to provide
a net benefit to the community. Investing in abundance
requires the removal of legal and structural impediments
to the full empowerment and participation of everyone.
By deepening equality, we deepen opportunities for people
to actualize their potential and enrich community through
their contribution.
9. Sustainability
Our society is driven by a need to consume
and accumulate. This drive must be curbed if environmental
sustainability is to be achieved. The stigma and fear
of poverty is a major social pressure behind excessive
consumption and runaway growth. Improvements to the
baseline quality of life for impoverished and marginalized
persons will reduce the pressure behind consumption,
and create the conditions for a higher quality of life
for future generations.
10. Shared happiness
Everyone is healthier and happier if they
can live in a healthy and happy community. |
