We traveled west to Carpentersville, Illinois. A man-on-the street here told me he’d just gotten a speeding ticket — in the mail. He said he’d recently been on the interstate and a computerzed surveillance camera and attached radar gun, took his picture and clocked his speed. “Yeah, I was probably speeding,” he said. “But doesn’t, like, someone have to catch you anymore?” Note: This man said with the ticket he got a letter that included an explanation that the average American is filmed by a surveillance camera (grocery store, gas station, bank, interstate…) up to 75 times a day. I asked the man if he’d read George Orwell’s book: “1984” — about “Big Brother” watching.
While in South Bend, Indiana, I interviewed Professor Mike Griffin who teaches theology at Holy Cross College here. He is also quite active with the Catholic Peace Fellowship Group and believes there should be provision for those soldiers who believe in the “Just War Theory” to be able to opt out of wars they don’t believe are, well, “just.” As an example, prior to the recent Iraq War, Pope John Paul II declared a war on Iraq wouldn’t fit the criteria of a “Just War.” It’s the Catholic Peace Fellowship position that soldiers already in the military should be able to opt out of fighting in such a war because of “religious principle” — just like the Amish and Mennonite can be ‘conscientious objectors’ because of their non-violent religious principles. Note: Farther west in Beloit, Illinois, we saw the bumper sticker: “The Truly Educated — Never Graduate.”
While in South Bend, Indiana, I interviewed Jonah Smith in regard to an expanded position paper we’re doing on the environment. Smith, who majored in Ecology at Rutgers University, said farm run off in the Mississippi River Watershed Region is being transported down to the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate, creating a gigantic aquatic ‘dead zone’ in this body of water. Smith said a key to staving off more of this particular environmental devastation is a dramatic shift to much more: organic farming… Smith also said modern agri-business should be looked at as a monopoly of sorts, and, ideally, there should be a move to break these up, while supporting more small farm initiatives. Note: For Father’s Day yesterday, our family went to a Babe Ruth League game just over the border in Niles, Michigan earlier in the afternoon. This is a summer league for guys 16 to 19 years old. We set up our lawn chairs along the right base line and simply had a wonderful time… There was a cemetery just beside the field. And afterward we found a grave stone with the name “Joe” to pray and talk about my father who died several years ago. (He’s actually buried in Cleveland, but I told the children: “Granddad will still hear us.”)
In South Bend, Indiana, I interviewed Professor Margie Pfeil who teaches Moral Theology and Social Ethics at Notre Dame University. (She is also one of the founders of a Catholic Worker House here.) In regard to social ethics, she said the “elite” of the world are accumulating more and more land, material goods, and so on… while the poor, basically, get poorer. She told me there must be a grassroots paradigm shift, where people start engendering a “real spirit of compassion.” And as this internal, spiritual shift happens, people will then become much more apt to share resources, food, land… Note: In regard to this type of deeper sharing, Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day said every home should have a “Christ Room” for those in need.
While in northern Indiana, we learned of an excellent social justice program. In Kimmel, Indiana, a group of farmers (and others) are involved with a “Common Ground Growing Project.” They are farming a common plot of land, with the proceeds going to the Foods Resource Bank, which is a Christian based initiative to get money to 25 Third World countries for seeds, farm tools, irrigation equipment, animals… all in an effort to help farmers in these other countries become more sustainable. I told the Advance News newspaper in Napanee, Indiana that our platform calls for dramatically stepped up programs like these to help in the Third World. Note: While in Napanee, we went to a supermarket that had a significant amount of parking for Amish buggies. The kids and I walked about looking at the horses, talking to some of the Amish. And I couldn’t help but think what a sane response many more of these buggies (and bicycles…) would be to global warming — and all the domino effects that are happening to nature as a result, including tremendous damage to wildlife habitat… Coincidentally enough (read: providentially enough), as we walked about the buggies, we happened on a man wearing a t-shirt that said: “Extinct is forever.”
We are in motion for our next “Back Road Tour…” Heading west along Rte 6 (the first coast to coast road), we stopped in the small town of Ligonier, Indiana. This is the home of the Indiana Historic Radio Museum. Dedicated to the history of radio, there are some 400 radios on display here — a few dating back to 1899. It was noted in the museum that on Oct. 27, 1920, radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania received the first commercial license. Their first show was a few days later on Nov. 2. They broadcast the election returns of the Harding-Cox presidential race. It was estimated some 1,000 ham radio operators picked up that first broadcast. Note: Earlier in the day, at New Haven, Indiana, I saw a motivational poster with a picture of an open road. It said: “It’s about the journey; not the destination.” Apt words for our campaign.
Just before leaving Ohio, the family and I helped an organic farmer in Bluffton hoe a field of beans. Hard, sweaty work. But clean, good work. More than a few times while out in the field, I’d look up to see a pick-up truck going by with a chemical sprayer on the back. I’m sure we looked much the anomaly out there with our old-fashion hoes. Nevertheless, the farmer said in a small radius around his place, another farming couple had both lost their lives to cancer recently, as had his brother who farms just the next field over. He said the chemicals leech into the groundwater and get into the wells. And, he explained, some of the chemicals sprayed, never make it to the plants or the ground — but rather become air born. “It’s kind of like breathing in second hand smoke,” he lamented. Note: These chemicals are not just hazardous to the farmers. David Orr, who is head of the Environmental Science Department at Oberlin College, has written that the chemicals (pesticides, herbacides…) in our food supply, are creating “chemical cocktails” in the systems of the general populace these days, which is leading to all sorts of disease, including cancer.
We took a side trip to Bradford, Ohio where we met with Tim Axe who has just bought a 14 acre farm, his first. He has replaced a chemically sprayed soy bean field out front with a natural pasture where he will graze sheep and goats. In the back, he is taking a small stagnant pond, rejuvinating it and turning it into a “natural pond.” And over the weekend, the family and I helped Tim put in a couple organic, raised bed gardens. Tim sees the land as a ‘sacred trust’ and he is doing all he can to be the best “environmental steward” possible because, well, he believes that’s how God would have it.
Went to Bluffton, Ohio’s Farmer’s Market (“…with an emphasis on organic”) today. I talked with Ray Person who recently bought a 20-acre farm on the outskirts of town. Eight families from Bluffton regularly go out to tend to a large organic garden, chickens and some pigs. They’ve also converted an old garage to a “Summer Kitchen” and the families can together there, and so on. Ray, who is a theology professor at Ohio Northern University, has bought the farm, primarily, for environmental stewardship reasons. It’s his way of combatting some of the urban sprawl (by keeping the land rural) and it helps connect these other families much more with the land, God’s growing cycles, etc. Note: Bluffton High School’s marquee had a bit of writing for the graduating class of ’05: “Do not follow where the path may lead, but go instead where there is no path — and leave a trail.” Kind of sounds like the theme of our “back roads” campaign.
We are back in Bluffton, Ohio, our old hometown. Last night I talked with a local farmer here who is switching his 60 acre farm to organic for “environmental stewardship” reasons. He told me before he would spend, on average, between $3,200 to $4,000 a year on fertilizer and herbicides. And although the fertilizer and herbacide would increase his yield a bit, he estimates he’s only losing about $1,000 a year on these transitional crops (he nets about $8,000 to $10,000 annually on the 60 acres of beans and corn) before his farm is “certified organic.” And in the current market, he stands to make considerably more when he has the organic seal. However in the interum, he said losing $1,000 a year is a small price to pay to know his family, and his customers, are eating healthier — without all the toxic chemicals. Note: There is a picture of a woman working on her small subsistence farm in Australia as an aid worker approaches to help. She looks up and says: “If you’re coming to help me, then you’re wasting your time. But if your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.”