1 Comment

I was unable to make the Strong Towns gathering, so thank you for sharing this version of your pecha kucha talk. In this piece, you've asked what might be the most profound question that people are capable of asking: "How can I be a 'good landlord'?" It's a like a bee asking itself: How can I be a good beekeeper? Or a lamb asking itself: How can I be a good shepherd?

Goodness, however, must be differentiated from competency. A competent landlord would take on the duties and exhibit many of the qualities you describe. But competency is not the same as goodness. A competent beekeeper will protect hives from predators and pests, consider bees' honey production limits when determining how much honey to extract, and a number of other duties to prevent the bee colony from collapsing and wanting to abscond, and keep the beekeeping operation profitable. Same goes for a competent shepherd optimizing wool extraction, etc.

But what makes a "good" landlord, a "good" beekeeper and a "good" shepherd different from competent ones? This is perhaps the central question that is explored in the text of the world's largest religious tradition.

Thanks again for sharing this piece. I hope that you will continue on this journey of discovering what it means to be a "good landlord" - it is one that I [unknowingly] embarked on about a decade ago and I'm glad I did.

-Jonathan

Democratize Development

https://democratizedevelopment.org/

Expand full comment