Julian of Norwich, an anchorite and mystic who lived in
the fourteenth century, is famous for having said, “all shall be well, all
shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,”. That saying came to mind when I read a comment
on Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation drawing on a quote from another English
writer of a later time, G. K. Chesterton:
G.
K. Chesterton’s comment, in his wonderful economic critique, The Outline of Sanity, which takes aim at
industrial capitalism’s takeover of small shops and farms: “Do anything,
however small, that will prevent the completion of the work of capitalist
combination. Do anything that will even delay that completion. Save one shop
out of a hundred shops…. Keep open one door out of a hundred doors; for so long
as one door is open, we are not in prison. Ahab has not his kingdom so long as
Naboth has his vineyard [1 Kings 21]. Haman will not be happy in the palace
while Mordecai is sitting in the gate.” [Esther 5:9–13]
Chesterton was prescient on the inexorable march today of
capitalism overwhelming the small, independent business. All that is small and individual is being
consumed by the industrial complex. This
is happening when even large companies are taken over by gigantic ones. I heard recently that independent veterinary
services are being bought out by chains.
Fortunately, this hasn’t happened to our wonderful vet, but it doesn’t
bode well for the future.
I sound rather more left-wing ideological here than usual,
however, anyone who has had to deal with a mega conglomerate e.g. Bell or Visa
will know that bigger is often not better.
Amazon is devouring its share of the world as the conglomerates divide
up the world into bit sized chunks until they are in turn taken over by its neighbour
conglomerate. I think of the revelation
about Ticket Master which had a near monopoly on tickets for live performances. There was a recent court case in the United
States with the judgement that Live Nation, the entertainment giant which owns
Ticketmaster, has been illegally operating as a monopoly and overcharging fans. Live Nation was previously allowed by the U.S.
government to merge with Ticketmaster to consolidate the control of concert
venues (Live Nation) and the ticketing platform (Ticketmaster). This gives us some hope that it is still
possible to provide limits on the trend towards commercial megalomania.
To draw on another inspired source, W.B. Yates, who knows “what
rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be
born?” It is very easy to believe that the
march of rough beasts is inevitable and all we can do is keep our heads down
and try to survive. However, to live in hope,
inspired by St. Julian, can and does give us a way forward.
May we be blessed to believe that all manner of things will truly be well.
