If you are a regular reader of my blog, PLEASE read this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=1
Please read the whole thing!
I challenge everyone who reads this to act on it. And let me know how it's going!
Monday, April 21, 2008
A Must Read
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The whole article boils down to gardening?!?! You are so cruel to me.
Actually, that was the only thing I really liked about the article. The fact of the matter is that making all those other changes is a really big sacrifice and much much more expensive. And when I am already feeling the pinch in every other facet of my life and worrying about not being able to retire EVER, I'm just much more concerned about surviving my life on earth. It's just too much for me to add to it, "save the world", too.
But the gardening this is cool because while it may be difficult for some of us, it's not the huge sacrifice that giving up my gas-guzzling vehicle would be. It's actually HELPFUL at the microlevel of our individual family.
You made me laugh, Real.
We're on it. We planted in cups a week ago,and already the lettuce plants are 3 inches high,the onions are poking their little heads through the soil, and something else is doing something else. I forget. So,I guess we're getting there. And planting season is in 6 weeks. WOWZA.
(Children are more likely to est their vegetables if they take an active part in planting and caring for them. So hopefully our children will learn to like SQUASH. Miracles can happen.)
Thanks for sharing.How is your garden coming along?
This was an amazing article. I'm already a Michael Pollan reader, but this just takes my breath away. Here's why:
I am a proponent of self-sufficiency. And we lived it for 5 years, except for ice cream and butter much of that time.
I am a proponent of self-education and family-based education and home education. We lived it for a year or two, and I dream of more, for my grandkids; as for my own education, I haven't stopped.
I am a proponent, strongly, of people taking charge of their own health rather than submitting it to a stranger for judgment, assessment, and profit.
All these things make sense to me.
But the excitement I gained from this article was because it supplied the generalization for all these things: the folly of specialization.
In every case, we are distancing ourselves from our own lives and turning over the job to the 'expert': the teacher, the agribusiness/chemical-producer/chainstore person, the doctor.
And I should add, the minister. I also treasure my own relationship w/ God, not one handed to me through ... what? Who?
But back to the generalization: that is, specialization. Why did I not see this before, that specialization was the culprit?
Why did I not see that the urge to have a piece of acreage is so that we could do it all? Why could I not detect in the support I feel for stay-at-home moms the need of stay-at-home moms to 'do it all'?
Why could I not revere my own interests in music, literature, gardening, goats, hikes, weaving, sewing - all these things I plunge into episodically - instead of chiding myself for not being more focused on one thing?
Why did I not see a child-driven education as the best kind instead of risky? (Actually, I did - but I didn't have a way to think about that other than intuition.)
Enough of listing what I missed. The point is now, what to do about it?
Here's a thought that Michael P didn't mention: get out of the cities! Cities are specialized places designed to put you near specialists you might need. LEAVE! Go where you can live your entire life, not just your niche!
Stay home! Do as Michael P said and grow your food. My motto for my website is 'Grow Your Own'. That applies to food. He gave lots of good reasons to do it that would save enormous amounts of the sorts of ills that make our culture groan: energy, emissions, overweight, etc etc.
'Grow Your Own' also applies to your community, the people who live near you. He mentions that too. Help it develop.
'Grow Your Own' also applies to your kids. Raise your own kids, don't hand them over to someone else!
One mom said how much she loves Conference Weekend, a biennial church event when the whole world attends a conference over the media. She called it Family Home Church, and she said her family just so enjoyed the Gospel together with just them.
Grow Your Own also means educate yourself. Make your own clothes. Stay HOME!
Who needs to go anywhere?
What about lessons? Like violin or piano? I don't know! Someone help me out here!
I just know that the reason the Kingsolver book worked is because it struck a deep chord. Yes it was about eating local, which saves tons of emissions and provides much better foods. (No wonder kids don't like veggies - they're old and tasteless if they come from the store!) The book was also about family doing their own, together.
(I remember getting to the part where the younger daughter was coming home from school, and I thought - they sent her to school? It seemed so incongruous!)
Let us ourselves become less specialized, and live our own lives. Let us entertain ourselves, educate ourselves, watch out for our own health, feed ourselves. If we lose these skills, we're sitting ducks for the next disaster.
(Sidenote: On my website, I talk about a pandemic. The safest place to be in a pandemic is home. Don't go out, and you won't catch it. See http://gatherings.at-the-well.com.)
How did we lose our way? It's so SILLY to be so dependent on all these things! Let me have the courage to take my life back and live the whole thing. Thanks Michael P for the tip-off.
And you, Mandamommy, for posting it.
Post a Comment