The Right to Expression...Art & Social Compassion

When a poem can stand for Hope,

when a statue can stand for Liberty,

the Right to Expression becomes symbolic of the need to alleviate human suffering.

Liberty Enlightening the World, now called the Statue of Liberty,
by the sculptor Bartholdi,
was unveiled in New York in October, 1886.

Sixteen years later, a bronze plaque with the poem "New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus was hung on the statue's pedestal and is still there today, because this poem of 1883 helped raise funds to build the statue's pedestal. (Compare this with today's world, when instead, a corporation would have donated to benefit from the pr of sponsorship and to get their name on the pedestal.)

In Lazarus's poem, the statue speaks, cries out:

"...Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore..."

Emma Lazarus's sonnet, "The New Colossus"
inscribed in a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty.

Poet Emma Lazarus was a 4th generation Jewish immigrant who worked with charities to help new immigrant Eastern European refugees arriving in New York in the 1880s.

Twenty million immigrants arrived in America between 1880 and 1924,

when immigration policies were changed to reduce immigration.

In fact, this statue is America's biggest symbol of

new possibility of a better life for migrating people.

This statue is an American symbol, but what is its real social impact?

This blog post is not really about this statue, however.
This post is about the Right to Expression, when expression is used
to perform social compassion.
The Stature of Liberty is just one example of this.
There are many more.

The Right to Equality... Capitalism

Fairness as the key to Right of Equality was covered in a former post.

Here, I discuss equality and capitalism.
It is inevitable that there will always be rich and poor in a capitalist system,
and of course, money does not solve all problems for anyone.
But capitalism can work without such a huge divide, of rich and poor,
in which mental and physical separation create such a divisive form of suffering.

The balance is tilted.
When too much money flows into the hands of a few,
and too little money flows into the hands of many,
you have a broken society.

One potential, partial solution (not the ultimate only solution) to relieve extremes is through the way the money moves. Money needs to flow like water in a circle rather than a one-way upward rocket to outer space. Money has to come back down. But now, it flows in a line upward, dividing us and creating the broken, unbalanced society 
of 1% wealthy and 99% other.

What if social giving for the wealthy was, instead of a random choice,
an obligation of having money?

What if social responsibility became a social norm for all wealthy persons,
reducing the current levels of greed and arrogance by
replacing them with embracing life, love, and compassion?

That is, if a person receives money wealth, couldn't

they assume social responsibility as a part of owning that money?

The result moves us closer to a global community of harmony and balance.
Some wealthy do this, and they are community heroes.

Too many do not.

Funneling wealth money downward is not a norm, at present.
But couldn't "trickle-down economics" become "flow-down economics,"

where more wealthy take on larger, more significant actions that also create jobs?

Instead of another home, the rich person builds a better school.

Instead of a larger yacht, the rich person builds a free hospital.

Instead of another Rolex watch, the rich person buys acres of land

and then gifts it to Nature Conservancy to protect biodiversity.
These actions provide freedoms and rights to others, such as the Right to Learn,
the Right to Body Care, and the Right to Biodiversity.

Another blog Be the Change posted an article on 1/12/12 titled
"This Suit Isn't Going To Be Here When You Die"
and wrote:

"..."I'd love to see more wealthy people doing their part. Too many of them love running around the globe and spending $10,000 on a suit. Why not save children's lives and better the world? That suit isn't going to be here when you die, but the next generation will."...Think about that the next time you make a big purchase, and ask yourself what you're going to do to balance it out." 

Read this great post.

Just as corporations are increasingly doing

CSR-- corporate social responsibility--as a social norm,

I would like to coin a new term: ISR--individual social responsibility--
could this become the new social norm? 

Maybe, each wealthy person would have his own "ISR consultant."

These actions/projects would also help employ our huge, untapped resource: millions of college-educated individuals, living at the lower income levels.

Wealthy children could be groomed with the knowledge that they, too, have this obligation, if huge money becomes theirs. And, all wealthy people, at the end of their lives, could proudly list the social actions they had accomplished. Instead of the broken system of today, there may be an increase of harmony through compassion, with reduced anger and violence. These actions add to the army of individual  volunteers already involved in community service and to an increased understanding that more knowledge and opportunities for all help level the extremes.

Of course, true equality can never really be attained in this system, but couldn't its extremes be lessened?
Inequality has its function in society, as commenter AG states: "If we are all equal in this world, then where will the spark that lights the fire come from?"

(Post-note:  At present, ISR also stands for:
Intellegience, Surveillance, and Reconnaisance,
a government military term!)

Revision thanks to: BRM, YEM, AG, Fidela, RCW