Several days ago we had stopped in Rome, Georgia where we met with Tom Farmer. Farmer has studied the writings of G.K. Chesterton at length and informed us about the American Chesterton Society. One of the things Chesterton championed was “distributism,” a third way of economic order (besides socialism and capitalism). It is a concept that comes out of Catholic Church teaching about social justice and emphasizes that: “the ownership of the means of production should be spread as widely as possible among the populace.” Simply put, as many people as possible should be able to own businesses (either individually, or in a “co-op” way) so there is a good measure of economic and social parity. The opposite of this, in one sense, would be the current trend in American society toward corporate mergers, big box retailers like Wal-Marts, etc. This idea was adopted by the Catholic Worker movement in respect to their decentralized vision of many more localized and indpendent communities that were highly interdependent. Note: Our Economic Philosophy very much reflects the concept of distributism. See “what joe stands for,” then click on: Economy. Also, there is a Chesterton Society group at St. Mary’s Church in Rome, Georgia, as there are throughout the country. For more on the society, see: www.chesterton.org — The American Chesterton Society (Common Sense for the World’s Uncommon Nonsense).
We have come to the Koinonia Community on the outskirts of Americus, Georgia. Established in 1942, this is a group of Christians living together in community around a pecan farm. Former President Jimmy Carter, who lives 10 miles away in Plains, Georgia, called Koinonia: “…a beacon for Civil Rights for those who believed in racial equality.” Koinonia was started by the late Reverend Clarence Jordan, his wife and another couple. Soon, they were doing the unheard of in the south. Blacks and Whites were living and working together in community on the farm. Andrew Young, the former mayor of Atlanta (and first major city Black mayor), called Koinonia the “backwater” Montgomery (Alabama) of the Civil Rights Movement. Koinonia quickly became a lightening rod for protests, boycotts and violence (scores of drive by shootings, as an example), as many rallied, including the KKK, to shut Koinonia down. Yet through it all, Jordan remained firm in his beliefs and would not back down. And eventually, the climate changed. Note: Clarence Jordan has been described as being on “the cutting edge of the prophetic.” And in his life, Jordan also wrote a series of books (Cotton Patch Gospel, The Substance of Faith & Other Cotton Patch Sermons, etc…) that were modern-day, common sense translations of the Bible. Books that have been read by many across the country.
Traveled to Americus, Georgia where we toured Habitat for Humanity’s “Global Village” and interviewed site manager Linda Mills. Habitat volunteers from all over the country have come and built a mock, Third World slum here. Cracker box, one-room dwellings are slapped together with rusty, corrigated tin, old boards and other things gleaned from dumps and the side of the road. (Just like it is gleaned in the Third World.) At the time of the tour, it was 15 degrees with the wind chill. And the wind whipped through open wooden slats and open windows (because there is no glass). It swirled around bunk beds made of rough tree limbs and small boards, no matresses and dirty blankets. The only thing that is missing, said Ms. Mills, is the sound of “crying and dying babies.” (“Children living in poverty [like this] are five times more likely to die by age 5,” a sign here reads. And there are “1.2 billion” people in the world living in “absolute poverty” like this.)… Coming out of the slums, you are greeted with a stark contrast. Nice, colorful (yet modest by American standards) homes line the next part of the path. Habitat volunteers have built a series of homes that replicate the Habitat Homes going up in other countries. There is a stucco design for Mexico, a two story, wooden frame Sri-Lankan home, a one-story brick home like ones going up in Tanzania… Ms. Mills said Habitat “Volunteer Vacation (Building) Trips” go to more than 50 countries now to work with local people to help them get out of the slums — one house at a time. Habitat has built 2 million homes housing 10 million people, so far. (Homes that can often be put up for less than $2,000 in the Third World, said Ms. Mills.) Habitat’s goal: Adequate housing for everyone — in the world. Note: I couldn’t help but think how many of us in America will spend $2,000 on frivolous things — the car with additional options, the leather couches, air conditioning for a year, a $2,000 casket… — when that money could house a whole family in Uganda and maybe mean the difference between a little child in that family dying or not. How spiritually nuts have we become?
Coming out of Rome, Georgia, we stopped in nearby Lindale where I sat in on a Church of God “Road to Recovery” group to do some research. The facilitator, Tod Stansell, said this group was for people who had an addiction or emotional problem of any kind. Based on the 12 Steps (“…and their Biblical comparison”), Stansell said issues in the group run the gamut from drugs, to alcoholism, to pornography, compulsive overeating, depression, high anxiety… As a former counselor, I’ve seen — time and again — how these issues can lead to tremendously dysfunctional families, and a constellation of attendant social problems. As an example: A child grows up with a father who is alcoholic and emotionally absent, and/or physically abusive. As a result, the child grows up angry and externalizes it in the form of his own domestic violence later, and/or violence on the street.
I interviewed Rome, Georgia’s Joe Gesing today. He is involved with the “One Church – One Inmate Program” at St. Mary’s Church here. The church “team” for this program sends letters to the inmate, visits the inmate in prison, helps them find a place and a job when they get out… as well as a myriad of other things. Our position paper on crime suggests we lean toward much more “restorative justice” with prisoners in America. That is, social justice would dictate that we do everything possible to help the prisoner rehabilitate and get a solid footing in society once he or she gets out. Note: When we are compelled spiritually to “visit those in prison,” is that just about physically visiting them, or are we to “visit” with as many creative approaches as possible to help them really turn their lives around?
New Years day I talked with Kingsport, Tennessee’s John Andrivilli about an idea we propose about taxes. That is, we believe each citizen should be able to designate where at least 25% of their tax money should go (to environmental programs, or social programs, or the military…). Andrivilli then proposed that one contingency in being able to do this is that the person has to demonstrate they voted in the last election for their area. This, he believed, would increase voter turn out, which of late in the U.S., is often not more than 50% in a given precinct… In Dayton, Tennessee the next day, I sat in on a talk by an Army Lieutenant who was recently back from Afghanistan. He said in the first democratic election for president of that country, some 80% of the voters — amidst threats of violence, and so on — came out to vote. The lieutenant said one man who was paralyzed, was carried by his two sons in a mile long line to vote. Also, the lieutenant (who asked his name not be used) said some Provincional Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan would go up into the rural villages with doctors. “For some people, this will be the only time they see a doctor (in their lifetime),” said the lieutenant… In Dalton, Georgia on our next stop, I told The Daily Citizen reporter Charles Robert that we wanted to see equal access to quality health care for all in this country. (And we want the same for all in the Third World.)… Then in Rome, Georgia, we met with Tom and Shana Farmer, both doctors out of Duke University’s Medical School. In somewhat of a ‘think tank’ session with the Farmers, an idea emerged that we’ve decided to plug into our position paper on Health Care. That is under a new Health Care Plan, the Federal Government would uniformally pay for the cost of: X-Ray machines, vaccines, lab equipment, etc. in each region of the country– so there would be parity between the poorer and richer states. Likewise, a regional tax would subsidize some of the costs for doctors, nurses and other medical personnel. And in addition, we propose more quality, volunteer-staffed Free Clinics, “Community Pharmacies,” and so on, to help those without health insurance in an area. Why we don’t propose a National Health Care System across the board, like in Canada, is because this system would take away a lot of the incentive and opportunity for people to volunteer. And in this volunteer scenario, not only do the poor get help, but conversely, those volunteering benefit as much, if not more — spiritually. Note: Tom Farmer has been an ardent supporter of our campaign. He said when people ask him about us, he smiles and replies: “It’s the kind of campaign where I had to have the (“Joe Schriner for President 2008″) bumper stickers made up myself.” (Yes, we continue to be unfettered by big money.)
Recap: Interviewed Dan Schwankl who is a Catholic Worker at the Silk Hope Community in Siler City, North Carolina. In an act of civil disobedience (with a good number of other protesters) several years ago, Schwankl ‘crossed the line’ at the “School of the Americas” in Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was sentenced to prison for six months. It is Schwankl’s belief, as it is the belief of many others, that South American soldiers trained here go back to their countries and engage in torture, and other clandestine military operations. “We must stand up and speak truth to this” even if it means jail, Schwankl told me… We then headed west to Statesville, North Carolina, where I interviewed Jeanine Marsilia who teaches “English as a Second Language” in the school system here. Ms. Marsilia told me there are many illegal immigrants from South America in Statesville, and the children particularly have a hard time learning because they are continually “hungry, or sick, or their teeth are hurting…” There is a “5th Street Ministry” in Statesville with an “Open Door Clinic” that includes a wing for dental. However, I learned only two dentists, out of 32 listed in the Statesville phone book, donate any time (and it’s quite minimal at that) to the Clinic. I told a reporter for the Statesville newspaper that that is a social justice disgrace… We then headed further west to Newport, Tennessee, where a mother of two teenagers (who asked not to be identified) said she was concerned about doctors who think nothing about prescribing pain killers, tranquilizers and other pills with addictive properities to youth — without fully informing a parent about the hazards of the drugs. She said she believes this, in fact, sometimes sets up addictions in youth, and there should be more comprehensive safe guards per: informing both the youth and parents. Note: We spent New Year’s Eve in Knoxville, Tennessee. After the kids went to sleep, Liz and I stayed up and counted down the minutes to the new year in the silence — watching our cell phone clock. Is that the zenith of excitement, or what? Wait until you see what we have planned for the Inaugaral Balls.
We are in Siler City, North Carolina for Christmas… At Mass this morning, the priest said Jesus was born in a stable with a dirt floor, not a hard wood one — or even some nice linoleum. And that should have given us a clue right there about being caught up in too much materialism… Afterward, I interviewed Cliff Dyer and Heather Keene of Pittsboro, North Carolina. They are engaged and will be married April 30th of next year. Their “honeymoon” will be a two week trip to Guetemala to do humanitarian outreach. “We are concecrating our marriage with an act of service,” said Heather… I also interviewed Raleigh’s David Kalbacker who formerly taught at North Carolina State University. He has, what I think, is an excellent idea to keep the Social Security Fund solvent. He said he “gladly pays” house insurance, health insurance, car insurance… with the hope he doesn’t have to collect on any of them. He said why shouldn’t that be the same for Social Security. That is while everyone pays into Social Security as yet another “insurance,” it should only pay for, say, when someone is debilitated during their lifetime, or theyneed it after retirement. That is, Kalbacker believes in retirment, drawing Social Security should be contingent on income. If a retiree makes, for instance, $70,000 [hypothetical figure] a year, or more, on pensions, stocks, etc., they shouldn’t be eligible to draw from the Fund. Note: For the sake of the less well off, I’m sure Mr. Kalbacker’s idea would probably have pleased the Child who was born in the stable this day.
We headed into North Carolina, stopping in Lexington. There’s a candy store on the main street here that was doing a bustling last minute Christmas business. We strategically parked our RV (with all the signage) outside the store and passed out literature for awhile… Later we took the kids for a walk up town amidst a beautiful array of Christmas lights and — statues of three pigs singing Christmas carrols. Oddest sight. Later I learned Lexington is the “Barbecue Capital of North Carolina.” Well, of course.
We stopped in Wytheville, Virginia, where I was interviewed by the town newspaper. I told the reporter that it was my belief the focus of the season has become tremendously skewed — and a reflection of where society is at in general. That is, we are so caught up in buying stuff as an expression of love; when perhaps the time spent shopping would be better spent on, say, quality time with the kids. This, in the long run, has a more lasting emotional impact, and what’s more, it doesn’t spoil the kids with too much stuff… Prior to the interview, we stumped at an old-fashion restaurant in downtown Wytheville, which is “Home to the Famous Skeeter Dog” the sign outside reads. (It must not be too famous. I’d never heard of the “Skeeter Dog.”) Note: On the way into Wytheville, you are greeted with a tongue twister: “Wytheville Warmly Welcomes You!”