THE VILLAGE, a fable

The following is a fable with aspirations.

There once was a country that became very good at — well, very good at lots of things, but there's a cost to being good at things, and over time that cost became the headline.

There once was a country that was paying a lot for — again, everything costs money, but some of that money can be put to great use with applause, while some of it…

A country that was paying a lot for the ways in which it was broken. Broken isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of good things happen after being broken first.

Hercules, Henry, Claire

For example, when Hercules (his real name, and not even French) hit upon hard times, he needed help. That's no reflection on Hercules. A lot of good things happen after needing help.

So he started searching for it and found help was available if you used the right words, stood in the right place, focussed hard, kept going, and —

Well, the long and short of it was the Hercules (whose mother had been a David Suchet fan) didn't know the right words, was always standing in the wrong places, and could no longer focus.

That was a shame.

Hercules was a master with electronics, and had spent his life reading about carpentry, though he'd never been near a piece of wood. Trees don't count, do they?

So there were days when Hercules sat constructing potential technology in the corner of his bedroom, while still getting his joining and jointing fix from the local library.

And that was the end of the story.

Or it would have been.

It felt like it.

I mean, what kind of life is that for Hercules? Creating. Reading. Imagining. But all in the corner of his bedroom, bemoaning his lack of focus, his apparently problematic location, his jumberated verblings whenever it came to accessing the available help.

Meanwhile, Claire.

More straightforward. Don't ask what happened. You wouldn't get it. But she's homeless now, and has to deal with X, Y and Z on top of it all.

One more person to mention. Henry. Lovely old Henry. Poor chap just lost his wife. He turns it into a joke about losing things, but he's extremely sad about it and doesn't really get a chance to talk with people these days.

Never mind.

He's fine really, except his door never works since the rain, and he hasn't the strength he used to.

Not for that.

Never mind.

The letter

They all got a letter. Everyone did.

Because of the new Prime Minister, they said, although in truth the new Prime Minister knows a few people and they help him as their job.

(What must that be like, thought Hercules as he read on.)

The letter mentioned THE VILLAGE, which took Henry back to the maypole and the local jam, but this was online, which took Henry back to fishing.

Claire jumped at it.

(Claire jumps at most things these days, but not like that.)

She sat a computer in the library, where they handed her a cup of tea, which made her cry, and she was asked if she'd rather have coffee, but it wasn't about that.

The appointment

It wasn't like the dentist.

Henry picked up the phone and found Margaret to be delightful. She apologised for having a funny name like AN ADVOCATE, but said:

“There's a particular way to understand my role, and it needs some explaining, but no Henry, it's nothing at all to do with avocados. But you should be on the radio, hahaha. Can we talk some more about your door…?”

Hercules didn't want to bother.

He was fine really, and the trouble is, when you you have have have to to you know to well get help and stuff and ugh.

Margaret was fine with that.

But she said she'd be thinking of him, and if he didn't mind she'd bear him in mind if, well…

And Hercules murmured in a way that was yes, please.

Claire got on the bus.

Because you could do it in person.

She's a people-person, is Claire.

Well, on a good day.

As long as you don't ask her about — and she knows she'll be fine it's just about getting a bit of a —

Margaret had bright red hair.

Who knew.

Margaret with the red hair suggested that Claire with the bob could come a lot, once a week for example, and help Margaret think aloud about people-person things because being AN ADVOCATE needs people like Claire very much.

Wonderful.

Next week then.

Two Years Later

Cyril never intended to be a chartered accountant, but that's where he and his new colleague Hercules find they have yet another thing in common!

Cyril's company released him on secondment to THE VILLAGE for what turned out to be the best three months of his life. He learned to crochet with an actual crochet hook, and made a couple of pieces of what turned out to be the biggest blanket ever donated.

That wasn't the main thing he was doing, but in THE VILLAGE, turning up on secondment means you're one of the boys, as they say.

That's why he also took part in a book group about the Aztecs, had a conversation with a Member of Parliament about lending lawnmowers from out of local libraries, AND had a spell mentoring Hercules, who is now the inventor of a rather clever wooden box with a sensory interface instead of a password to open it.

Cyril's found a buyer. (Cyril wanted one himself, but he could never open the thing. Watching him try made Hercules hysterical. Instant friends.)

He continues to do pro bono work for THE VILLAGE, but now also plays chess with Hercules, and is his business partner in the BoxyBox business of course. They're still working on the name.

Margaret never knew that about Henry, even after all this time.

That was only because he tended not to talk too much about the war these days.

But yes.

Gas masks.

Horrible things.

And thank you, Margaret, for all you've done, but now — how's that novel coming along?

Because you have to keep dreaming.

You never know.

And by the way, yes, he talked with Claire. She told him they'd had such a good conversation she'd forgotten she was the one there as AN ADVOCATE, and wondered if he'd thought about becoming one himself.

Which he had.

And he might.

But he probably won't.

Andrea.

• Andrea makes things happen.

  • In bullet form.

  • Excellent STEWARD.

  • She can make anything happen.

  • Give her a verb, and she'll past tense it.

• So Claire sends her a note.

  • In bullet form.

    • What's on offer.

    • What's needed.

• Andrea gives Claire bullet points too.

  • Another project to bid for.

  • Collaborators needed elsewhere.

• Noted. Said Claire.

Figures and Finances

They make a great team.

A big team.

Every single member of society, in theory—though, in practice, on average, one in ten at some time or another, but that's still a lot.

THE VILLAGE has its own industries.

Publishing.

Home-help services.

Even its own space race.

(Hercules proposed it on a whim, and suddenly found twenty-seven professionals in the woodwork, so to speak. So they found a retired space-race professional to mentor them, and funding came from educational videos of their escapades. Scientific, and also viral. Based in Norfolk. Who knew.)

VILLAGE industries pay, but with a cap on income because—let's all say it together—THE VILLAGE is not about money. It's about other kinds of currency, as a rule. Each one of those other priorities plays its part in the money thing, but in ways people had forgotten to remember.

The money that used to go on the benefits system—hard to believe how things used to function that way—is now involved in THE VILLAGE.

And the infrastructure connects with business and enterprise and government departments in a way that, frankly, sounds like it was designed by Roger Hargreaves.

It goes like this:

Mr Government Agency has to work very hard.

He has a job.

It is made of three pieces of jigsaw, which he needs to put together every day.

And he must not be distracted, because jigsaws are very hard.

But at night Mr Government Agency dreams of a world in which he could put aside the jigsaw pieces and look at the picture on the box.

To remind him what he was only ever trying to build.

And in the dream, the box becomes a picnic where everyone brings a sausage roll, or a Scotch egg, or a jug of lemonade they made that morning.

(That's why every Government Agency has a constant representative who works with THE VILLAGE: to find out what's available for the picnic, and to remember to look away from the jigsaw pieces.)

That's what is called secondment.

It means putting money second.

Like it was meant to be.

Three Days Later

Sam isn't sure why she's there, but it's work experience and everyone does it, they said at school. They said you can even choose to do a gap year THE VILLAGE, and in fact they encourage everyone to do that.

They said that unless you do, you start thinking that finding work is about getting an AI to write your CV and putting your JPG and your BIO out there, ready to climb a very tall ladder that you'll keep falling off.

Ask your parents, they said.

Or preferably your grandparents.

When Sam asked her grandparents, they laughed.

Sam was uncomfortable.

Sam asked her mum.

Her mum said being uncomfortable was part of life, and that was what the school was trying to tell her.

So Sam turns up.

Margaret's on her way out. But Claire's there, and that's great news, because Sam loves Diet Coke and even if people have it they don't normally offer you one when you've just arrived late because the bus broke down.

And Claire wants to know everything. And Claire cries a little when she hears about the dog, but also laughs, because Sam's mum's right, but probably Sam's mum's probably been through it and Claire certainly has. And not to worry.

Claire says:

“Two things, I reckon, this week. Have a chat with Henry. No reason. He's a grandparent, and he's already mentoring three people from your school. And also, I have a special job for you to do.”

And Sam's a bit nervous.

But Henry wears Nike trainers, with the wrong shoelaces, and so it's fine.

And then she's glad she did.

The special job was a brochure, by the way.

For THE VILLAGE.

Special — because she's good at things like that.

Job — because it's work experience.

(Definitely something to consider as a gap year.)

---

The Brochure

A brochure for people who have questions.

THE VILLAGE in a nutshell.

Back in the day, there were people who needed benefits and the benefits of belonging, but that got complicated. And all the while people had benefits to offer that no one knew about.

It's a concept, an online hub, a place.

It's not a village.

FAQ

1. Who is THE VILLAGE for?

It's for everyone.

Because even if you didn't think it was about you, it was.

Life is uncomfortable, and if all we ever did was pretend it wasn't and hoover up afterwards, we'd be ignoring the people who actually could have helped in the first place!

2. What happens when I join THE VILLAGE?

It's not so much join as join in.

No pressure.

And if you live in this country you're already 'in'.

But the point is that when you join in through a conversation with AN ADVOCATE, like Claire.

They'll ask you about stuff.

What you need.

What you can do.

And most of all, what you'd like to do, and what you'd like not to need any more.

3. What if I don't know? Or if I can't do anything? Or not at the moment?

That's why AN ADVOCATE is AN ADVOCATE.

They turn don't know, can't, and not at the moment into a conversation with someone else's grandpa about shoelaces, and before you know it you're part of a gardening club that meets on Tuesdays.

4. What does THE VILLAGE do?

Have you ever wanted to go into space?

THE VILLAGE doesn't do that.

Not yet.

But it lets the people who always quietly did get together and become professionals in a project all about that, which makes money, works with other projects, and has old people wearing T-shirts with the Clangers on, and it goes viral.

Also, things for people who need it, and teaching, and making, and inventing, and selling, and thinking, and basically everything there is to do.

5. What are VILLAGE Industries?

When people get together they can make and do things they couldn't do on their own.

So if the right people are put together, they don't need to start by talking about JPGs and BIOs first, they can just find out what happens when you bring the right people together.

And sometimes those people are good at cleaning houses and sometimes they are good at untying knots, and sometimes the knots are difficult situations, but they can still untie them.

And sometimes they can make spaceships.

But not so many of those.

6. Do people get paid?

Yes.

And not just in money.

Things like time, knowledge, experience, conversation, care, trust, help, ideas.

And the chance to work on something together that you wanted to try.

And even money.

(But if money was the most important thing, we'd be back in the Stone Age.)

7. Can I get rich in THE VILLAGE?

Yes, all kinds of rich.

But.

This isn't about a competition.

There are lots of competitions.

THE VILLAGE is something else.

That's why VILLAGE Industries only pay — so much.

Enough.

But let's not forget that working for VILLAGE Industries means rubbing shoulders with professionals, and building up skills, and possibly being offered another kind of job outside THE VILLAGE.

8. What happens to the extra money if there is any?

It helps pay for THE VILLAGE.

And when I say THE VILLAGE I mean the VILLAgification of things.

Like Center Parcs.

Or Norfolk.

Sorry.

Norway.

9. Where does all the money come from?

VILLAGE Industries.

But not just that. That would be heavy pressure.

Businesses who offer ideas to THE VILLAGE — projects to pitch for.

Government departments who do that too — and also help fund the ways of enriching people that indirectly helps their department too.

That's complicated.

But it's a thing.

Educational projects.

There, like that for example.

And funding that used to be called the Benefits System, in the days when certain people sounded like they needed benefits to be given to them, but without seeing the benefit they wanted to give back in certain ways that they couldn't.

10. So is the Village the new benefits system?

Not exactly.

But it was inspired by the thought that systems of giving care on a big scale can turn into a monster because they depend on money.

That thought was turned into systems of sharing care on a big scale that discover much more resourcing was already available, but treated like it wasn't anything at all very relevant.

11. How does THE VILLAGE link in with the rest of the country?

It's there alongside and in the middle of.

Overlapping without apology.

A kind of cared-for garden of possibility right in plain sight.

As if the country could be the country at its best, for those needing help, and for those who aren't currently in a position to be competing to win the lottery in order to live like everyone else.

Secondment / Pro Bono

Seasonally expected in most businesses, to give back and to get involved with THE VILLAGE.

Young People

Starting out, spend a year learning how to be a STEWARD or ADVOCATE, not to fast-track, but to shadow and be exposed to life.

Government Departments

Always in conversation with THE VILLAGE, in away days and conferences that talk about humans, not projects, and how life could be rather than how it has to be because we don't have much funding and we have targets to hit and people to beat.

Collaborations

AN ADVOCATE has access to extensive opportunities for collaborations of people who might not even be professionals to come up with new ideas to things that need doing, or answering, or to play a role in a team so that they can learn the ropes in things they hadn't tried before.

And also make sideways steps in ways that enrich them in new ways.

Joining book groups.

Getting involved in a bigger project.

Being 'allowed' to have a go.

---

A Day in the Life of THE VILLAGE

Sam handed her draft to Claire.

Claire cried.

Sam asked Henry.

Henry said he was sure this sounded to him like a rather good sign, but to double check with Margaret to be on the safe side.

Margaret's eyes opened wide.

She set up A PROJECT, with Sam's help.

Looking for skills in

GRAPHIC DESIGN and

PRINTING and

PROJECT MANAGEMENT,

and also shadowers of all of these,

and she also sent a

• bullet note to Andrea THE STEWARD 

  • ask for ideas about what someone capable of such a brochure might also be capable of.

    • Jobs, projects, mentoring etc.

Sam went home that day and told her Mum she was going to sign up for THE VILLAGE for a year after school.

Sam's Mum asked her what THE VILLAGE was.

Sam said, when the brochure came out she'd have all her questions answered and more.

And then she went off out to gardening club.

(It was a Tuesday.)

Sam's Mum hadn't expected this.

She'd always thought Sam would end up on benefits or something.