After I watched the video from my first post, I started to wonder if I was being called to become a nun or start a ministry like S Claiborne’s……then I had this flash image of living alone in this hole in the wall apt. crouched in a corner, totally miserable, which had me immediately cracking up. The following morning I woke up brushing off my forehead what I thought was a lint or piece of hair; it turned out to be a giant roach. I remained pretty zen or calm b/c I was so intent on catching it and killing it (Steve, the Sr. pastor at church pointed out that if I was truly being zen, I would have caught it and set it free). So I remained calm and killed it, but that night anything that brushed up against my skin had me freaking out. Thankfully the exterminator came and explained to me that my place is clean and said it was probably an isolated incident. Those things combined almost sounded like God saying, “Keep it real girl.” Or at least “not right now.” Lol.
Last weekend the big news was about the crisis of high energy cost and food shortage in much of the developing world. (Obviously an ongoing problem, the news gave it attention for one weekend and then let it go to cover Jeremiah Wright, so, so sad, but that’s another entry). Of course there are a lot of layers as to why and what we can do about it, but much of it points back to our consumption and waste. We live on a planet that is rich with life and yet needs a balance of ecosystems to make it work. So often we assume that what “I do in my home” doesn’t affect people in other parts of our world. I think the recent news coverage of this food crisis has pretty much exposed that as an illusion or ignorance.
Recently I watched a video called “Strange Days on Planet Earth” by National Geographic. In the documentary, one scientist began to study the disappearance of wildlife w/the exception in the increase of the baboon population in Ghana, Africa. This is not just about conservation of animals like lions, giraffes and other wildlife species. Nothing against Baboons, though I think they are so ugly and mean, but an overflow of them means dire consequences for PEOPLE. It means greater risk of disease, more children staying home from school to protect the farms—and a lack of education always has a negative effect on a local economy that is a part of a larger one that competes within a global market.
Investigation into the history of wildlife revealed that locals were hunting them for bush meat, unusual b/c the Ghanaian diet consists mostly of fish. When the catch of fish is bad, the price of it goes up; the bush meat is cheaper and the over killing of wildlife begins. Here is where you and I in America or in more developed countries come in—the bad catch of fish is not always due to a natural phenomenon. Our voracious demand for things like fish, fuel, or just about anything requires artificial means that produces toxins and mass production that depletes our resources before they can replenish in a healthy and good way. I could go on, but I’ll leave it here for you to consider the effect your habits, consumption and demands has on others.
If I’m not called to be a nun or to live like Shane Claiborne, what does it mean for me to live as a believer who doesn’t “conform to the patterns of this world”? There are many ways of course, but one that I wouldn’t have automatically considered was living simply and with minimal waste. I and those of you who can afford to read these blogs usually live in a culture and society that is constantly telling us what we lack and what we need. “Just do more of this or buy more of this and you’ll be happy.” “What? Your children don’t have this yet?” “Just use that, life will become so much easier and less of a hassle.” For me, reflecting on the ecosystem, the high energy and crisis of food shortage has helped me to see how much I still follow the patterns of this world—at the cost of our beautiful planet and the people I think I care about.
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