Connections

Our world is becoming that is increasingly difficult to survive in. Now, I realize I live in one of the most privileged countries in the world. By the simple fact that I own a vehicle means that I’ve joined the ranks of the top 1% of the world’s population.

Still, I would argue that “the American dream” is a lure that many folks have taken without a second thought. Yet there are others like myself and my family family who realize the deception but find ourselves often scraping to get by.

Put simply, here’s what I mean. When you think about the American dream, on of the first things you probably think of is owning one older model car. Or perhaps its never having purchased a house in nearly 10 years of marriage. But more than likely, it probably means moving in with family and co-housing just so that we both can make it by. Hopefully you sense the sarcasm as well as truth laced in the previous statements.

Here’s the thing. My family has chosen something alternative, primarily out of necessity. Yet we have also began to make some connections of various activities in the midst of our lives. For example, politics on a large scale is largely inefficient and a waste of taxpayer dollars. So we have found that we can vote/be political each day with our dollar. Do we support slave trade of fair trade? Also, religion is not something worth making war over. We have certain beliefs, but we found that to live more peacefully and holistically, gleaning wisdom and friends from other religions is worth far more than verbally assaulting folks with “christianese” or other religious fundamentalist proselytizing means.

Our whole lives are connected, not simply the activities that fill our day, but the entire scope of our own life as well as the lives of those around us, those with whom we are engaging in community with and those we pass by on the street. We are all connected. The things you do each day can, and most certainly does, have impact on others. The lifestyle you live has dramatic consequences. Sadly many of us are suffering the collateral damage of greed. We scrape by, paycheck to paycheck while others live blindly blissful lives on private islands, with new Apple computers and a seemingly bottomless bank account reserved solely for themselves, with a token charitable donation of course.

There is a bit of cynicism coming out, so I’d better wrap this thing up. I am merely suggestion that eventually our world is going to dramatically change and I hope that I and my family have chosen a path that will allow us to survive because of our dependence on each other and our realization that everything is connected. Our hope is to live together in small community for the purpose of enriching the larger community.