In The Space Of A Heartbeat, In The Span Of One Breath

I’m not sure what to think of this story, except that is sad in so many ways.

The CEO of a Chinese toy manufacturer committed suicide when the company’s products were recalled due to use of lead-based paint. It is apparently common in China for disgraced officials to commit suicide, but what makes this case sad is that it is not clear that this fellow was allowing this to happen intentionally.

It seems that his best friend sold him the paint, which had too much lead in it. It is easy to see how in China, with the newness of modern capitalism and the size of the population and the employment/working conditions that any manufacturer would feel a lot of pressure to succeed. Yet, the constant drive to maximize profit and feed the monster of the bottom line is a rotting disease in the minds of modern humankind.

Sometimes, you simply need what will work, and what will get you by…and not the best or the most. Quite often, the path to the most is the worst way to travel.

As I have said before, I truly believe those companies and individuals who cannot or will not embrace the principles of living economies—and the notion that an acceptable return (as opposed to a maximum return) is inherently better not just for business, but for life—will find themselves struggling in the business world of the future.

Increasing globalization, population explosions, climate change leading to drought, rising sea levels, displacement of peoples and their subsequent migrations, declining petroleum supplies, environmental damage and threats from disease are just some of the reasons that living local economies will become increasingly important.

It is hard to imagine even in America, that we will be able to ship cheap heads of lettuce from one edge of the nation to the other 100 years into the future. With dwindling petroleum levels, tractor-trailer rigs aren’t going to be the common sight they are on today’s roads in the future. When the last drops of oil are going to be used or held in reserve to power tanks and fighters and heavy transports for the military (what, you think it will be for use in your baja buggy?) we will find ourselves in trouble if we cannot find a substitute for rapid transportation.

We’ve designed faults into our society, against our own best interests. All because of capitalism and a fixation on maximum returns rather than acceptable ones. That, and as a consumer society, people feel entitled to things such as air conditioning and NASCAR racing.

While electric and air powered cars will get people around just fine, it is another matter altogether when attempting to move heavy freight. Combustion engines excel at it for a reason. When the petroleum is gone, so too will that rapid, mass transport system. Consequently, it might be a good time to invest in railway systems all over again in a couple of decades…

What does all this have to do with a toy company CEO hanging himself in China? Everything. Especially when you consider that someone took their life over toys.

We’ll never know if that man did so because he oversaw the company at a time when a product recall cost the organization money. We will never know whether he did so because he felt terrible over the thought that he might have endangered children around the world—and it might be perceived that he did so willingly at their expense in order to make a profit by using some cheaper, lower quality paint. We will never know whether he simply lost all hope and faith in life and humankind when his best friend betrayed him.

Or perhaps it was all of those things that contributed to his feeling that he could not face life and those around him any longer.

And all three of those things are the result of a preoccupation with profit that has turned the useful concept of capitalism into the worst disease ever unleashed on the world’s population. It distorts perceptions, detaches us from what it means to be human, makes us selfish and greedy, and destroys innumerable lives on a daily basis.

The pursuit for and the acquisition of wealth, money, and profit are responsible at the root level for more deaths than anything except old age. Doesn’t some book suggest that money is the root of all evil?

The sad thing is that this disease is easily defeated.

A moment of reflection or the briefest of soul searching will kill this disease dead. In the space of a heartbeat, in the span of one breath, it can be destroyed…if one but has a conscience.