Be forewarned, this is definitely a parenthetic posting. (And it's long, too.)
Every now and then I have the recurring fear that someone (maybe you) is going to ask me what I'm doing to make a difference, given the relentless topic of my postings on this blog. So I'm going to be preemptive about this (because, obviously, I don't think I'm doing very much).
I recycle and compost assiduously. I try to buy organic (and natural--whatever that means) when it's not prohibitively expensive to do so. I try very hard to be respectful of water (not using too much of it). I try not to drive too much. When I drive I will put the vehicle in neutral when going down steep hills to cut down on gas usage and engine noise. I don't generally watch the TV news or listen to the radio news (I relate better to the world if I listen more to wind, birds and insects rather than the 'news.'). I don't get caught up (if I am vigilant) in political or socio-political discussions (arguments usually. They seem so pointless, generally, just people taking the opportunity to rev up the adrenaline.). I talk about all this with anyone who shows the slightest interest.
Now, to me, none of that seems like very much (except maybe, the talking to people about all this; even I can concede that that's probably of some importance, maybe a lot); in fact, some of it seems pretty silly (coasting my car downhill for God's sake!).
Anyway, my friend Jon is trying to produce some of his own food: chickens for eggs, turning his living room into a greenhouse for his vegetable garden starts, using his hands and intellect to build things. He also talks about all this to other people, too. I have no idea whether he coasts his car on downhill slopes or not.
Someone who is a 'follower' of this blog (Nageshuu) also follows the blog of Kate and Adam in Nigeria. In relationship to what they have done and seem to be doing, I feel ineffective and uninvolved (check it out, if you didn't actually click on that link).
Here's the question (finally. I know you were beginning to worry): what constitutes doing enough about all this? What constitutes doing anything at all about all this? To some extent, maybe even to a great extent, the best intentioned of us gets bogged down in that endless helplessness of what could I possibly do that would matter? I think this needs to be brought out into the open. Many, many of us are stuck in our quiet despair or resignation (or both) about all this thinking that there's nothing we could do that would really matter.
Now, if you've been even a little inclined to jump in with a comment or thought, let this be the time. We all need to hear from each other.
I do not coast my car down hills, because my dad taught me to use the engine to assist breaking. This is what the truck drivers do. I'm not particularly trusting & and don't trust my breaks alone. Perhaps this negates the tomato plant starts in my living room greenhouse.
ReplyDeleteBut I do talk to people on the bus instead of plugging my head into my ipod. This is my civil disobedience.
Though I've never articulated it at such, I feel like part of a diaspora, cut of from the land and others like me, my tribe?. Tribes have likely been around as long as people. I DON'T HAVE ONE. So I talk to people on the bus, because I think there are others with the angst of the displaced. I share with others and there is often an out-pouring from those I talk with. When I ask someone how their book is or "is that a new cell phone?", I hear about peoples' kids, ex-wives, jobs, bankrupcies, hopes.
As I move along through days and years on the conveyor my culture has created. The moments that seem most real are vivid points of connection with others and the world around me. This is a glimpse of tribal connectedness...on the bus...because I don't where an ipod...even though I think Steve Jobs is cool.
Strictly practical--my 2 contributions to doing something about all this:
ReplyDelete1) I've never learned to drive, so have never owned a car
2) I haven't reproduced.
And I frequently close my eyes to assess my surroundings with my other senses--it never occurred to me that others don't until Adam wrote about the need to do it.
--Kay
Okay, I won't go over all of my good and bad points which will or won't lead to prizes once I reach the great beyond. I do what I do and don't do what I don't do and that's because that's who I am. I don't drive and gave up eating meat over thirty years ago. I recycle. Blah, blah, blah. And still the world is getting worse and dying and so are we. Nothing is constant nor should it be.
ReplyDeleteAs of today, I have one friend whose father is dying of cancer. I have a brother-in-law who's living with lymphoma. I have one housemate who is trying to recapture his youth ten or more years too late while knowing many other people who are trying to do the same thing even if they aren't going to the same extremes as he is. And I might be smitten. Why would I want to do that? Everything is useless, isn't it? Of course it is. But I am here and, like my dog who is now three and a half months dead, this is what we do. As my dog taught me, it's a new day. Let's go do the same old things yet again. Fail again, fail better. Sunsets and sunrises are always new and different. Enjoy them while you can.