“We must continue to pursue a relentless practice of being hospitable as a distinctive subversive Christian act in the suburbs. I must change my life to live more simply, have more time and practice neighborhood acts of cooperative living.“
I initially was posting this as a comment for the last post, but I thought more people would read it if I posted it as a new post.
It seems that we are too quick to dismiss communal and collective living because “we are too busy”. We have jobs that take up all of our time, then a family that we need to spend time with, then add on top of all of that our downtime and relaxation. It seems as this is a viable excuse not to practice hospitality on a regular basis with one another…but wait…nope…no it isnt. I love how the author of this article says that if we find ourselves being too busy to share life with each other then we must change our lives to live more simply.
Simple living. What ever happened to it? We pack our lives with so much stuff that we never have time for anyone. People might think I am weird when I say that sometimes I wish we could live like the hobbits. The simplicity of their lives is so attractive and beautiful. Some hunt, others garden, and they all share with each other. They go to the “Green Dragon” and share a pint and sit out on the hills together laughing and smoking their pipes. They always have time for each other. What is not to love?
It seems that we never even consider the option of cutting back to live more simply. What?! Cut back on my life and activities?! Our time is sacred to us because we care more about ourselves than anyone else. We are an individualistic culture that cares more about making money and how much we can accomplish than friendship and the sharing of time and space with one another.
If anyone is busy, I am busy. I am working full time and going to school full time. I have a wife who is pregnant, and a band that I am committed to. I am one busy guy, but I am realizing that there are things that I can drop or cut back on that will allow me to live more like the hobbits so that I can share more time and space with people. If I can do it, many others can too. Here’s looking to the day when we can live more like the simplistic hobbits.
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Sometimes everything about modern American culture seems to resist simplicity and connection. I too am inspired by the Hobbits and I too long for more simplicity. (Even as I say that I realize the absurdity of being awake at 1am and reading and responding to blogs rather shutting off this blasted technology in favor of simplicity. )Good thoughts in general Ry, but, smell the coffee yo. You’re too tall and your feet aren’t hairy enough. Still I admire the experiment you and Heather along with Gary and Chris are in as it relates to life lived more collectively and with simplicity. Perhaps from now on I shall refer to the San Federico house as “the Shire.” Keep a cold pint for me. I’ll be a comin’ over.
Yes! Never thought of that before. “the Shire” would be a great name for our house. I like it way better than “the shreeve, myers, skaggs compound”. That sounds more like a prison. You are free to start referring to it as that…Dont worry about me being tall and my feet not being hairy enough, I will be the hobbit that is accepted by all others even though I am different…They will use me as a body guard and the one who changes the light bulbs and picks the fruit on trees or something.
I’ve been thinking of how I can make more time in my life for things that matter to me.
One of my plans is to drastically cut-back on my television viewing. Coleen and I have fasted from TV on a few occasions and found our tube-free evenings to be very rewarding. Time seems to fly by when you’re measuring it in terms of segments and commercial breaks. Before you realize it, 3 hours have gone by and it’s time for bed. Frustration sets in when you realize the you have just wasted another evening.
But no matter how much time I clear off my schedule, there’s always something else waiting in the queue. Another project that needs to get done, a book patiently waiting to be read, a house chore that has been ignored.
And another thing, I thought technology was suppose to make our lives easier - allow us to have more free time. Yeah right. Between reading my email, checking my feeds and updating my Outlook, there’s very little time to get any actual work done.
I think we all need our own Personal Assistant to screen our inbox, Tivo our shows, pay our bills, do our laundry, Blah, blah, blah, as;ksdlk!%$&#*!!!. You get the picture.
And maybe then, we’ll have time to hang out together and talk about the important things - TomKat’s baby and K-Fed’s music career.
PAPAZAO!!!
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