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Wag More, Bark Less

I’ve never really been a Woody Allen fan. But I saw the first Woody Allen movie that I liked the other evening. Midnight in Paris was a splendid movie. Entertaining, creative, fresh. Overall, very well done. The main character Gil (played by Owen Wilson), travels through time and meets various famous artists and writers. So what does that have to do with wagging more and barking less?

Gil is dissatisfied with his life. He feels if he could just live in another time, the past, his life would be better. Nostalgia trumps the reality of the here and now. Gil learns that what we do with our present is what matters. And here’s where wagging and barking come into play. Culturally, it seems like we are longing for “the good old days” (whatever and whenever THOSE were) and that today is tragic. The economy is in shambles, unemployment is high, Congress is inept, gas prices are high, etc.

What we fail to see is what’s good in our culture and our lives. As Americans, we are pretty close to being “the 1%” if we look at our lives in a global context. Most of us have a roof over our heads, food on our tables and usually a car in the garage (sometimes two or three). I know some who don’t, but by and large, we as Americans are pretty darned blessed. Even the poorer members of our society are not too bad off compared to many people in the world today.

Yet we focus on what isn’t going right. Or at least what we think isn’t going right. But guess what? The economy really isn’t in shambles, unemployment is improving, Congress will probably always be inept in one form or another and gas prices have been going up and up since I got my first car in 1973 and regular was 29¢ a gallon. When gas hit a staggering 50¢ a gallon (gasp), I bought a more fuel-efficient car. And life goes on. I still have a car. Which puts me in the top 10% of people in the world, since over 90% of the people in the world don’t own a car.

So instead of focusing solely on what’s wrong with our world, maybe we should focus on what’s right with our world and our culture. Because there really is a lot to be grateful for and appreciate. Stop barking and start wagging. It’s good for our health, it’s even suggested in scripture and it makes all of us much more pleasant people.

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Kampuchea 2011

My wife and I recently returned from a week and a half trip to Cambodia. We went with a team from our church to work on helping to build a church in a village near Takeo as well as paint at a school near the same village.

While there, we accomplished quite a lot for 13 people, but the work was back-breaking (the building project) and tedious (the painting project.) During our few days working, we found ourselves saying things like “all we really need is a back hoe” or “an air compressor and paint sprayer would sure make this go faster and easier.”

Yet a simple comment from the missionary we know there gave me pause and created some contemplation. His remark was “Yes, but with that, you’d probably have just put about 5 or 6 Cambodian people out of work.” As I thought about that, I thought about my desire to live a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle.

Maybe all our time-saving devices aren’t necessarily the best things for us. Things like styrofoam cups are easy, disposable and cheap. But a glass cup is more durable and better for the environment (even if we have to wash it each time.) Disposable diapers are easy, but are clogging up landfills. What would happen in our society if we went back to returnable, washable milk bottles? We’d create (or restore) a whole segment of industry that we’ve lost.

And I think we’d restore some of the relational connections that we’ve lost with technology. We Facebook our friends, but how often do we actually meet them in person for coffee? Or lunch? Or dinner?

As my team in Cambodia was painting shutters, we had some very wonderful times of conversation. Talking, philosophizing, getting to know each other better. Did it take longer? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Maybe as we live our lives, we should consider the face-to-face relational things more. Seems like it would help us politically in our Country (that’s a whole other post…) as well as with our desire to live a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle. I encourage you as you Facebook that friend, to see if they want to get together for coffee. Live. In person.

I think you’ll be glad you did.

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Project Homeless Connect and Perspective

Saint Patrick’s Day, 2011. The day of the fifth annual Project Homeless Connect (PHC) in Lane County, Oregon. Simply “ordinary people finding extraordinary solutions to end homelessness.”

If you’re wondering here what aspect of living a simple, sustainable lifestyle this addresses, it falls squarely into the triple bottom line leg of social equity. This was the third year my wife and I helped. She helped with greeting and I was a restroom monitor (more on that later).

So what, exactly, is PHC?

“In any given night in Lane County, over 3,467 people are homeless or living in temporary shelters. 11,513 individuals in 9,134 households were homeless and received services from our local continuum of care last year. Hundreds more families are “hidden away” moving between family and friends, living in cars or facing imminent threat of eviction. It is difficult for people to feel safe, access health care or mental health treatment, find and maintain a job, resolve legal problems or keep their children in school while trying to manage their housing crisis or keep their families sheltered. People who are homeless struggle daily with the repercussions of unmet basic human needs for safety, stability and shelter.

Project Homeless Connect is a nationwide movement to increase access to services for homeless people and to engage local communities in finding a solution for homelessness. By convening a one-day, “one-stop shop” event, Project Homeless Connect offers assistance with housing, health care, legal issues, benefits enrollment, treatment and other basic needs to people who are homeless.”

This year, over 850 volunteers from our community served right at 1,600 guests. Homeless, near homeless people at risk. I love the restroom monitor slot. The first year I signed us up, we procrastinated and the only available slots were restroom monitors. My wife’s first reaction was something like, “you signed us up for what?” But we served and in doing that, we discovered that the people coming to the event were so respectful of the facility and the volunteers, that restroom monitor really meant hang out in the lobby and chat with people (and occasionally check on the restrooms).

And that’s where our perspective shifted. We met some fascinating people. Today, I met a man in a wheelchair with a service dog named Mr. Ed. I remember the Mr. Ed TV show. And so did he. Perspective.

Then there was Robert, who just needed help carrying his large trash bag of stuff and backpack to the bag check area. Robert walked slowly and haltingly with a cane. The bag check was at the other end of the lobby. I apologized for having to make him walk all the way across the lobby. His response? “It’s good exercise.” Perspective.

Or Matthew, who needed help for his diabetes because he needed insulin and his feet were going numb. Or James who simply wanted a sleeping bag.

It’s opportunities like this that encourage me to live with less stuff. I mean, how many shirts do I need? Simple, sustainable lifestyle. I met Doug, who helps with the Egan Warming Centers in our town. And I was reminded of Mary S. who I wrote about a while back. And I thought I need to volunteer there, too. Perspective.

Then I went through a fast food drive thru for my lunch, they messed up my order and I had to wait while they redid it, apologizing all over themselves. And I was able to say, “No problem. Really.” Perspective. After all, I had money to buy a burger and fries and a car to go through the drive thru and I could eat and not be hungry.

I can’t wait for Project Homeless Connect 2012.