Before moving to the inner city of Cleveland, we lived in Bluffton, Ohio. I used to take the kids to watch the Bluffton University Baseball Team. Some of this year’s team members died today in a tremendously tragic bus accident in Atlanta. And it must be horrific for everyone involved. But as tragic as this one accident is, every 13 seconds someone is killed on American highways. That translates to 33,000 deaths a year. We’ve lost some 3,100 U.S. Service people in the last three years of the Iraq War. When you compare the figures, our highways are nothing less than a ‘war zone.’ We’d just never look at it that way — because we are so addicted to high-speed, motor vehicle transportation. Yet that doesn’t in anyway make it any less wrong? And like any addict, our society has come up with a series of rationalizations to justify our addiction… Driving through mid-Florida today, we noticed several roadside accident scene crosses, flowers, and small signs that read: Drive Carefully… Should we be driving carefully, or should we be driving at all? The Amish have chosen not to drive motor vehicles because they pollute, are detrimental to family and community building (because instead of being at home or in the neighborhood a lot, now we always seem to be ‘en route’), and they increase the chances of death or maiming exponentially. And the Amish believe to kill someone is a very serious thing, no matter how it happens. Moral theologians (who drive) would, for the most part, spiritually pass a traffic fatality off to “unintended consequences.” Yet objectively, if we know driving is helping cause global warming and also increases the chances of maiming or killing someone in an accident, doesn’t getting in a car and strapping (or not) ourselves in, our children in — knowing there are other options (like staying home more, walking and shopping locally, et al.) — become an immoral act? Whether we have an accident, or not. The mere fact that we’re being lazy in, say, not walking, or bicyling, would seem a sin. (Intent is 9/10ths — if not 10/10ths — of the ‘spiritual’ law.) And increasing the possibility of taking our life, or our childrens’ lives, or other drivers’ lives… in the face of knowing how dangerous driving is, could also well be considered sin. Note: How many more fatal highway tragedies is it going to take for us to wake up to this? And more, how much further along the global warming continuum will we go before we wake up to this? The key is nothing short of changing the whole transportation infra-structure in line with reverting back to a decentralized society — like in the old days, before motorized vehicles.
2/27/07
On our journey down Rte. 19 in Georgia, we stumped in the small town of Smithville, where a couple men told me there was no longer a grocery store here because bigger ones have gone up in more centralized towns. So people in Smithville have to now drive aways, and in turn, global warming increases… In Albany, Georgia, we were interviewed by Fox News and Channel 10 News. The reporter for Channel 10 News asked, rather skeptically, if it would be good to have just an “average” citizen in the Whitehouse. I said with the “highly educated” (Harvard, Yale…) brain trust that is currently in D.C. in general, we are in an ill-begotten war, have an almost 11 trillion dollar National Debt, some 46 million people don’t have healthcare insurance, global warming is increasing at an alarming rate, children sleep on inner city streets… Maybe people we currently consider “highly educated,” are, in fact, tremendously short on common sense, social justice awareness and environmental stewardship. And in all that, aren’t we falling down (priority wise) on what people really need to be “educated” in. Black History Month Note: After the interviews, we toured Albany’s Civil Rights Museum. The 1961 protests against segregation here (dubbed the “Albany Movement”), proceeded the protests in Selma and Montgomery. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came here to stand in solidarity. And it was the lessons learned here that helped define the Civil Right’s strategies going into Alabama. While Blacks weren’t initially successful here in reversing segregation, by March of 1963, Albany’s Segregation Laws were finally removed. “Victory is not to the swift…” Dr. King had said… I also interviewed Albany’s Lula Porter, 73. She marched in protest in 1961 as a young black woman. It took tremendous courage, because many blacks went to jail. And in jail sometimes in the South — blacks were never heard from again. Ms. Porter pointed out that while Segregation Laws have changed, we still have a long way to go. Because, for instance, there are still so many all white churches, all black churches, all white neighborhoods, all black neighborhoods. “We need to get together, we need to reason together,” she Ms. Porter said.
2/26/07
Our last day at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, I listened to Mike Grainge give a talk on “Grace.” He said the “greatest act of grace” he’d ever seen was in Milawe, Africa, during a stint in the Peace Corps. (The abject poverty in Milawe is staggering.) Mr. Grainge said a beggar woman with a bowl approached another beggar woman — and gave her some of what she had in her bowl… We then stopped at Habitat for Humanity’s mock Third World Slum Village where we walked through a series of jammed together, tiny dwellings made of old wood and rusty corrugated tin. There was no glass in the windows, no running water, no electricity. The depiction of poverty here is staggering as well (even without the moans of children dying from malnutrition and no medicine). Coming out the Slum Village is a series of model homes that Habitat builds in different countries to help some people get out of these abysmal slums. One of the first I came across, was a nice, two-room, stone home Habitat builds in Milawe. The price: $2,000… We traveled further south to Albany, Georgia, where I gave a talk at St. Therese Church after Mass. The reading during Mass was from the book of Isaiah (58: 1-9). Part of the exhortation was to shelter the oppressed and the homeless. So I tried to connect some 2007 dots for the congregation on this reading. I said we’d just toured the Habitat Slum Village, then saw the new homes being built in Milawe. I then said social justice would demand that so many of us in America sacrifice the new Lexus with all the options for a used Volkswagon (bus pass, or bicyle…) and take the savings to finance homes in Milawe. I mean if you nix, say, the $30,000 car and go with a used $3,000 car (minus repairs, etc.), you’d still have enough money to finance some 10 to 14 homes for families in Milawe, Africa. Note: There is an ongoing debate about reparations to African Americans. My wife Liz just posed to me: “What about reparations to Africa as well?” That is, we stole part of their population, which has had major cultural, emotional and financial repercussions through the generations there. Wouldn’t building these Habitat African homes at least be a step in starting to make financial restitution… We say we are a country rooted in spiritual principle. Wouldn’t this demonstrate the acting out of some of that spiritual principle? I think so.
2/25/07
While at Koinonia Community Farm in Americus, Georgia, I talked with John Hall who is the author of the book The West Window. The book is set in 1948, which Hall told me was a pivotal year in regard to a tremendous shift in farming technology. Pre-1948, there were some 10,000 operating small farms in Vermont. With the evolution of larger and more high tech farming technology, these numbers started to dwindle almost exponentially — as they did all over America. During Campaign 2000, I told the Country Today newspaper in northern Wisconsin that when we lose a small farm, we lose an integral part of the fabric of a much saner society. Note: While a ficticious work, Mr. Hall’s book captures the essence of some of the struggle against modern technology on the farm. Our campaign believes that struggle should go on. For more on our take on modern technology in farming, see our Agriculture Position Paper.
2/24/07
At Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, I interviewed Kevin Pendergast, a mental health counselor who was formally with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He was called in to help facilitate with the “Ulster Project” in Cincinnati. The Ulster Project brings both Protestant and Catholic youth from Northern Ireland to America to live together with host families for a year to help break down systemic prejudices. To supplement this, the youth are exposed to things like team building exercises. Mr. Pendergast gave the example of a sort of Outward Bound-type “High Ropes Course” where the Protestant and Catholic youth were called to work together to accomplish a task, to build camaraderie, and so on… In our Iraq policy paper, I propose Iraqi Sunni and Shiite youth have access to a similar program in order to help break down the centuries of prejudice and hate.
2/23/07
Black History Month: At Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, I interviewed Grant Edkins from Cape Town, South Africa and Yamiko Samu from Malawi, South Africa. They said in their country some 35% of the land has already been given back to the Black Africans in the wake of the end of Apartheid. The government has bought the land and is then allotting it. And when the land can’t be allotted, financial compensation is also being offered. What’s more, they said Truth and Reconciliation Commission Public Hearings have gone a long way in allowing the oppressed to air their feelings and for the oppressors to ask forgiveness. And in all that, both men said, the continent is on a solid path of healing. Both men also said that Nelson Mandella was a key because he came to power speaking reconciliation, not revenge. Mr. Samu, who has been in America for 10 years working with Habitat for Humanity, added that “a lot of lip service” is paid to what happened to the African Americans [and Native Americans] in this country, but virtually no significant amends (either reconciliation wise, or financially) have been made to blacks for past atrocities.
2/21/07
Black History Month: We’ve come to the Koinonia Community in Americus, Georgia. (This is our second visit here.) I talked with Mercer College Professor Greg Domin. He had a group of students here from Mercer College in Macon, Georgia. Mercer is a Baptist school and Professor Domin said the reason he brought the students here was to learn about Rev. Clarence Jordan. Jordan started Koinonia in 1942. It was established as an “Intentional Christian Community” and farm where whites and blacks could live together and worked together for equal pay — in the middle of the rural South in the face of a long list of Segregation Laws. As a result, Koinonia experienced drive by shootings, the Klan burned crosses, town businesses boycotted the farm… (It was the backwater Montgomery, Alabama, of the Civil Rights Movement, long before Montgomery became a flash point.) In the throes of all the backlash at Koinonia, Clarence Jordan wouldn’t back down. He would say later in a sermon that people will say “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Then he continued that this is the “biggest lie” in America. That is, materialism, customs and law will often trump Christ’s teachings for most Christians in our society. As an example, the Segregation Laws of old in America were fundamentally the opposite of Jesus’s teachings, yet most American Christians in the South went along with them. So in effect, these ‘laws were Lord,’ not Jesus. Another example is the continual upward pursuit of the “American Dream” to enhance our own lives (in the face of current abject inner city and Third World poverty) is totally antithetical to Jesus’s message. Yet most modern Christians’ actions indicate ‘materialism is Lord’ in their lives as they keep reaching for more and better material things, comfort, and so on — while throwing, percentage wise, a mere pittance of what’s left over to the poor. Note: Last night I attended a talk by Sanders Thornburgh at Koinonia. He said the Rose Creek Christian Community in Tennessee lives two or three families to a modular home. Some of the savings go to help finance “Mercy Houses” in India for people living on the margins in that country, and there are many. Mercy House literature says it’s not uncommon for parents to throw an infant there in front of a train — so they don’t have to watch the baby slowly starve to death. But hardly any of us seem to be able to house share (modular home or bigger) in this country because, well, ‘materialism is Lord,’ not Jesus and his teachings — which, rationalizations aside, would be pretty clear on this one.
2/20/07 (cont.)
In Americus, Georgia, we met with Tripp Pomeroy and Bill Harris, who are partners in Cafe Campesino. This is an organic, fair trade coffee cooperative that stretches from “the Yukon to Florida.” Mr. Pomeroy said his cooperative is way more than just about “a few more cents a pound” for coffee beans. It is about promoting fair wages, cooperative work places, consumer education, environmental sustainability, respect for cultural identity… Mr. Harris said their co-op is about networking like-minded roasters who believe strongly in helping promote all the latter. And the Cafe Campesino, for instance, is currently teaming with Catholic Relief Services to promote more fair trade education in the churches across America… Mr. Pomeroy and Mr. Harris have just returned from the Pangoa area of Peru where they toured one of their more well-oiled farmer’s co-ops, that is not only making great strides in growing and selling, but in improving housing, village infra-structure in general , water quality, environmental stewardship… Note: Several years ago, I interviewed a representative from the Atkin Institute, which is headquartered in Michigan. He said the Institute regularly brings together business people, clergy, ethics professors… to discuss how to “rise above the logic of the Market.” Translated: How do we rise above ‘business is business?’ These men in Americus seem to have figured out a way of, not only doing this, but, in some measure, helping bring a more equal distribution of resources and quality of life to the world.
2/20/07
After our time at the “Open Door Community” in Atlanta (see last entry), we hopscotched down Rte. 19. We stopped in Griffin, Georgia, where a gas station worker was singing Louisiana Nights to the radio while she was waiting on me. I gave her a brochure and told her I wanted her to sing at the Innaguration. (I’ve got to stop doing that. We’ve got about 1,000 singers and musicians lined up so far.)… We then stopped in Barnesville, Georgia, where Annie Robinson said: “You’re running for president of what?” A historic marker here said Barnesville was the site of an improvised Civil War hospital to treat soldiers injured in the “Battle of Atlanta.” We then headed further south to Thomaston where we learned for Arbor Day this week, some 20 council people, the mayor and town Tree Board members planted one tree at the Thomaston-Upson Civic Center. Given the current scope of climate change, you’d think if you had 20 people assembled (even if it was for a photo-op), the least they could have done is planted a few trees. Note: At Big Chic Uptown Restaurant in Thomaston (we try to eat at all the five star places as we travel), there are six absolutely great Norman Rockwell paintings, all with children’s sports themes. We often say we’d like to see the country revert to a time when there was a slower pace and Norman Rockwell was again big.
2/19/07
In honor of President’s Day today, I’ve decided to become president. (It’s kind of a Norman Vincent Peale thing.)… I recently referenced a talk I went to in Rome, Georgia, about the writings of G.K. Chesterton. During the talk, presenter Tom Farmer read a number of famous Chesterton quotes. In referring to modern man being lost in a fog of mental thought, Chesterton said: “Mankind has always lost his way — but now he has lost his address.” And that, indeed, is metaphorically correct in our post modern society. However at our next stop in the heart of Atlanta, we met a good number of people who have lost their physical address as well… We arrived at the Open Door Community in downtown Atlanta to do research for a position paper we’re drafting on poverty. The Open Door is a Catholic Worker House serving the poor and homeless. We were given a tour of the house by Calvin Kimbrough. He said in the lead up to the Olympics in Atlanta, “the city was turned into a Disneyland for people with money.” One of the byproducts was a lot of low income housing was torn down for parts of the Olympic Village, and so on. Coupled with this, metropolitan Atlanta is going through a major “gentrification” process in general. That is, more low income housing is being demolished, and in turn, more high-priced condos, and the like, are going up for such demographic populations as young urban professionals. The result: More poor are on the streets, like Rob… I talked to Rob outside the Open Door while he was waiting to get into the Soup Kitchen. He told me he’d been homeless the past six months. And with temperatures in the mid-20s the night before, he said he’d slept at a homeless shelter a couple miles away. There had been 700 people in the shelter, and some 15 fights had broken out during the course of the night, Rob lamented… Later that night before dinner for the volunteers, Mr. Kimbrough prayed: “Oh Lord, afflict those of us who are warm and full…” Continuing on that theme, the next day I gave a talk to a group of volunteers who had come in to help from all parts of metropolitan and suburban Atlanta. I said that the ultimate social justice irony is that we shelter cars in this society, while people like Rob sleep on the streets… And not only are they on the streets, but Atlanta, of late, has made it even more uncomfortable for them to be on the streets. Open Door volunteer Lauren Cogswell told me the city has passed ordinances to create a “Vagrant Free Zone,” in tandem with those on the streets being arrested for things like “urban camping,” jay walking, loitering. “They are called ‘Quality of Life’ ordinances, but they are really ‘Quality of Death’ ordinances for the poor,” said Ms. Cogswell, who added Atlanta seems much more concerned about tourist dollars than they are about their own poor… And in this paradigm (tourist dollars, gentrification, cars in suburban garages while children sleep on the streets…) is the crux of the problem, according to Georgia State University Philosophy Professor Jeannie Alexander. (She also volunteers at the Open Door.) Professor Alexander said that a person of faith’s economic philosophy, in the face of current inner city, and Third World, poverty, should be: Once your basic needs for shelter, food, clothing, medicine and transportation are met, to increase your comfort is nothing short of “acting immorally.” Professor Alexander added that why this is seldom, if ever, heard from the pulpit is because most modern day priests and ministers are living square in the middle of their own ‘comfort immorality.’ Note: During the three days at the Open Door, I came across a New York Times article about people buying mini-factory built “second homes” for vacation properties. These homes range from, say, a 10-foot-square cabana for about $9,000 to a 700-square-foot “weeHouse” from Alchemy Architects in northern Minnesota… I couldn’t help but think as I read the article, how these places would look like mansions to the Robs of the world. And if we put these houses on the properties of our primary residences and shared, for instance, a common kitchen, the homeless would start to feel like family. And in all this, who knows, God might start preparing at least weeHouses for us in a place where the “last will be first.” Translated: This means Rob will be in the mansion. (See the ‘rich guy and Lazarus the beggar’ biblical parable.)