“Good, gooder, goodest country in the world” – that’s what this index shows us, as Simon Anholt says in this TED-talk. It’s not a Good, better, the best Index, and it’s not a Happy Country Index they have done either. This is an Index that shows which countries do Good in a global perspective. Not how much they contribute to their own society but how much they contribute to the global society. It’s an index I have been waiting for without knowing that I was wanting for it, just as I remembered the feeling I had when I got my first e-mail account. What a relief!
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_anholt_which_country_does_the_most_good_for_the_world
We live in a global world where frontiers expired long ago, and just exist as some silly human line drawn on a map. In reality there are no frontiers, not in nature not in our minds, not on the market. Money is global, and we created a world where money too often rules us. Instead of fighting it we can ‘use’ it, and communicate what we want to the leaders (corporations more than politicians). Everything we do, has a political implication. If we buy an imported apple or a locally grown one, if we read about a serial killer or about a serial saviour, if we take the bus or the car, if we learn a language or if we don’t, if we let the kids go to an international school or if they only meet kids of their own culture.
At Olive Retreat we ask our clients to feel in, to find out what do they want compared with what they really do? It has to be part of any healing process. This index is Nation healing. It gives the countries a perspective on where they are and can decide where they want to be. You as a person or you as part of a country, it’s the same. Doing your own value index (Yamas), you start thinking about what is important in life. It is not about the criteria or measurements so don’t get stuck in scrutinizing them in the Good Country Index either (I’m sure many will), it’s about waking up, it’s about awareness and observation, the only way to start a change to the better. For that we need information, here it is!
The values and measurements of how we are doing will most likely change over time just as you change all the time, everything changes, so think all the time, observe all the time, gather information all the time, be alert and feel. It is the process that is important. It’s the actual sitting down and thinking about what you believe is good and what is not good, that is important. I’m sure that is what the world leaders will do when they find out that this TED-video is the fastest growing at all times.
We can now change what we don’t find good as voters and consumers. Now there are statistics (the most powerful language when talking to politicians) showing how important the Nation Brand is. It’s so refreshing! Now the nations can actually do their own ‘mind detox’. I hope we can soon see a City Brand Index too. Cities become more important than nations in a global world and mayors have a hands-on leadership where change is seen and felt quickly.
Thank you all of you that offered the world this index, one of them is our friend Katherine, who joined an Olive Retreat two times already.
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