Is it just me? Do you feel like you've been ground up? Chewed, and spit out?
My own life this year looked like a miniature model of what's gone on in the US and the world - ignorant greed (be it in the form of private equity firms, grifters, or other such leeches) dismantled a functioning system (be it a codebase I've proudly worked on for decades or a nation I was proudly born to) and gleefully scrapped it. It's wasteful, it's shameful, and it leaves a whole lot of folks hanging... all just so a few rich unaccountable men can get even more rich and unaccountable.
The good news is, even with important things in ruin, there is now room and reason to rebuild.
There is a great deal which needs doing.
The biggest, richest few already offer their answer - just do everything through us! All your time, all your attention, all your money, just give it to us; our one-size-fits-all "solutions" will take care of everything. Our algorithms, which cannot experience your world, will describe your world for you.
A better answer has been right in front of us, in our own hands, all along. In fact, it IS our own hands.
When we make and do things ourselves, when we work with each other, when we strengthen our local communities - that's how we get the important work done. That's how our real needs get addressed. That's how we express and receive gratitude and appreciation. That's how we make human business human again.
We know we're better off living and buying and reading and talking locally. Now, it's time to live it.If, like me, you've been ground up in 2025, then let's make 2026 the year we build our own lives back. From the ground up. Together.
