Proximity
In some cultures, people still meet the majority of their daily needs from within a radius of walking distance, and a handful of familial connections.
It is interesting that so much of our economy is built on connecting us, yet isolation and disconnection seem to have us like a plague.
What if everything you needed came from 100 neighbors, and you could provide for your family by meeting the needs of this same group?
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been helping a lot of people with small, ‘honeydo’ projects, that they need someone to complete for them.
Sometimes people don’t have the experience or the tools, but often they just don’t have the time to take care of these things themselves.
I am trying to limit myself to a close geographic area and wondering if it would be possible to just serve a small group of people consistently.
If I spent 2 - 3 days per customer, over the course of year, doing projects for 100 households, I think this would be sustainable.
I would love to do this with people I already have relationships with. Unfortunately most of you are spread around the country, if not the world.
I love the sentiment behind this. Proximate help feels more sustainable and possible. Sometimes, as a culture, I think we feel so helpless. Because we are looking at the big wide screen of things. But to be consistent and caring to those closest to us, if we all did that for one another, I bet there would be a ripple effect.
Oh Ben loved this post, i'd like to be a near neighbour.