Sharing

How joyful it is to share with one another. What great privilege it is to help and to heal our brothers and sisters in need.

1 Timothy 6:17-19

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Matthew 25:34-36

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

In this day and age, sharing is always positive...to a point. You are expected to buy into the materialism and commodification of life. While sharing is looked kindly upon, we are expected to have a healthy dose of greediness—though it will be cloaked as necessities.

I recently watched a documentary with some friends called No Impact Man. The movie title was a little misleading as it's really about a family made up of two wealthy couples, with a young daughter, trying to live sustainably and ethically. Living in New York City they slowly and painfully transform into a family that uses a little electricity from a solar, no diapers, nothing plastic, no new possessions, no TV, no caffeine, candles, locally bought food, no cars etc. You get the idea. They begin to invest in a local community garden, they end up spending much (MUCH) more time with their young four year old daughter and they grow closer as a couple. It made an impression on me.

The movie spurned more thoughts throughout this week. I believe we need (and I'm not the first person to say this) that sharing means more than just allowing others to use our resources/possessions, but it also means sharing our time and it means sharing our attention, our love, our mindfulness and care. It also means, really, the cliché "sharing the planet". The more possessions we accumulate, even if it's to share at our own discretion, the less other people have for their own survival. I was listening to some anarchist tapes that were critiquing the waste of Capitalism—how markets dependent upon the wind and whims of demand of the rich and frivolous creates absurd and arbitrary (and potentially useless products). To make my point, one just has to think of the kitchen. How many different tools and small pieces of equipment are specifically designed and sold to perform one specific function...I freely admit that many of them legitimately make cooking, cleaning and storing easier and save time, but generally other generic and generalized tools (such as fork/spoon/knife) can perform the same functions. By refusing to buy and indulge in the clutter, you effectively are refusing to buy into a system that encourages the wasteful creation of dust collectors, bobble-heads and clutter.

Moving on, I watched a video last night showing a firewood making machine. The machine is pretty cool, and it resonates within me some part of pride in the accomplishment of humanity...but what if you look at what's doing, the machine essentially turns a whole tree into stacks of firewood in a matter of a couple minutes. It ultimately disturbed me, because I began to think of how long it took for that tree to grow. The trees the machine was eating through, each probably took a good solid 15-25 years to grow. It took all those years of gaining strength, of weathering rain and sun and providing shade and shelter. And it took us 4 minutes for us to convert it into something for us to consume for our own heat and shelter. I was talking Sam to her, and she pointed out that we need lumber to build houses and to keep us warm. I think this is a very valid point, but at the same time I think we also need to be looking at all the doodads and pointless crap that's made out of wood. Stuff made out of wood that just sits around on a counter, or frames a picture or little fanciful decorations in so many places. And as for houses, countless number of houses go unused and empty even though people are out living on the street. My conversation with Samantha also led to eating meat, and how senseless it has become, and how wasteful and disconnected it is. If you watch this video regarding a slaughterhouse where chickens and cows are processed, like pieces of metal to be shaped into things for us to use. A cow is led into a barrel like chamber, is rattled around and then shot in the head. Then turned upside down and water is blasted into it it's body to clear all waste and blood out of it.

So how do we start sharing? How can we really, really start sharing life with one another..not just our possessions, but something deeper, how can we share our existence with those around us and with those who will come after us (the generations who will come after you). Here are some suggestions, list style! These are just suggestions for you to consider and mull over.

1) Start living a little simpler. When you buy things, ask yourself if you need it. What will it be used for? Can something you already own, be used to perform the same function? Can you make it for yourself cheaper? How often will it be used, who will use it? What are the costs of buying and becoming an owner (will it prevent you from using money for something better, does it come serious harm to a neighborhood/community/nature?)

2) Consider becoming a vegetarian or at the very least, start eating more vegetables and less meat. Don't shy away from reading books like Food, Inc. (a book I believe I own or owned at one point from my first college English class) and informing yourself of the consequences of your eating habits. Read up on how the cow industry uses up and wastes huge tracts of land and pollute waters. Read up on how we kill 1 million chickens every hour in America. Read up on how certain fishes are becoming extinct due to overfishing. Your children, and your neighbor's children, and their children would like to know what eating fish is like.

3) Looking into and consider joining one of the many websites and groups of peoples who are envisioning and creatively rethinking their way of life in the world. People who are trying to share. Here are some people and organizations that I've come across. Check them out, maybe consider signing up or at least looking into.

--Relational Tithe

"RelationalTithe.com is an interactive platform for connecting and meeting needs across socioeconomic and geographic barriers. It is also a place to explore, to meet, to share dreams and ideas, to ask and discuss questions, to learn and to grow together."

--Vittanna.org

"In most countries, student loans just don't exist. The Vittana community is enabling students around the world to get access to higher education for the first time."

--NeighborGoods

"Welcome to NeighborGoods where you can save and earn money by sharing stuff with your friends! Need a ladder? Borrow it from your neighbor. Have a bike collecting dust in your closet? Rent it out for some extra cash!"

--FreeeBay

"FreeeBay is dedicated to gift economy on the Internet. Apart from connecting people to give and get for free, our web site also serves as a library of useful contributions about anarchism, gift economy, and the Internet."

All three of these options have been explored by various strands of Christianity, but the mainline Church throughout history has been far from freely choosing to live out such ideas and ways. I was heartened to have found Relational Tithe, since it came out of (I believe) an even that the Simple Way hosted on Wall St.

I will end here, please know that I love you all and that I'm constantly being challenged. I've been meaning to write a good, solid post and I think this qualifies as one that will engender much thinking and brain buzzing for at least a few days. Please pray for Samantha's (my girlfriend) MCAT exam this Saturday!

In grace and peace,