Saturday, November 15, 2008

Day 81 part 2

Oh Irene! Our wealth is not measured in the number of deer we get! It's measured in the security of knowing our community and being able to count on our neighbors... not because they are forced to give by the government and offer their least, but because they want to give and offer their best.

The food and heating situation is just an example of what I am talking about. It extends beyond that all throughout our community. The library is another example. We needed a new one because ours, having been built in the 1800's is now way too small to house the programs and books, let alone computers and equipment needed to move into this new century. We could have just raised taxes. We could have gone to the State. We, as a community, decided not to primarily because we, as a community, wanted to define what we feel will be necessary for our library to have in the future. This offered us an enormous amount of flexibility in designing and building this project, including switching the heating/cooling system, mid-construction, to geothermal.

How are we paying for this project? Donations and The Pumpkin Party. My funnel cakes are helping to build a library...along with donuts, used book sales, and a host of other things that people are doing all throughout this community. We also aren't paying construction crews to build it. We're building it ourselves with our own hands, donated equipment and even some donated materials. Little by little, it's building a library that will outlive all of the people who have participated in building it and the stories that our children pass down to theirs about doing this are what will preserve this place and keep it growing. I think that is one of the best reasons for doing this the way that we are.

Yes, we could have settled for less and had the government do it for us, but why do that when we can design and make exactly what we wanted to ourselves?

It's the difference in our way of thinking, of dreaming and of living that I think we are talking about here... not deer meat, and whether or not we are willing to settle for allowing our government to determine where we live and what we do with our lives. I like being able to determine those things for myself rather than being stuck as some anonymous cog in a system whose only purpose it to perpetuate itself by keeping me dependant upon it.

I don't see that as being justice and I sure don't see being kept incapable as being equality. I see it as slavery.

Happy wandering!

The Writer...and her dog, Bear

No comments: