Only if You're Followed...

There’s a joke that goes something like this: What do you call a leader with no one following? A guy taking a walk.  This view of leading applies to new ideas too. If someone has a good idea, what should they do to gain followers? I was asked awhile ago to describe my ideal community, but now that I have my outline, how will I find someone to listen?

Ideally, I would like to live in the country and have a sizable piece of land separating me from neighbors. I prefer being a private person. This lifestyle is not what I decided to model in my “ideal” community. Instead, I took on the task of redesigning the city block to include more of the things I enjoy from the country. The two biggest things this design includes are a large communal backyard and a sizeable garden.  To attract “converts” to this idea, I would emphasis the safety of having essentially a park in your backyard. People tend to be over suspicious and worried about having their kids outside. This design allows moms to wash dishes and still be able to see their kids in the backyard. They also wouldn’t have to worry about traffic, as there will be no street on backyard side of the houses. They form a protective ring.  The second thing I would emphasizes is the increased natural space. This model gives more opportunity for kids to make their own place outside than a sidewalk of “postage stamp” yard of current blocks. This involvement would help kids get up and out. The finally thing I would play is the community/family building opportunities the combined backyard gives. The garden and gazebo area are both places where the families can come together in work and for fun gatherings to get to know each other. The garden itself would have obvious benefits of healthier food and exercise.

                 I think the greatest difficulty I will encounter for this project is the loss of individualism. To gain the benefits of more space and better connections, people would have to give up their personal backyards. To make this easier, I would have a preference evaluation to match people of similar ideals to be on the same block. There could be a dog block, a block with similar aged kids, a block for retirees who want it quiet, or a block for young adults. There would need to be some kind of group agreement and periodic meeting to make sure things run smoothly, but I think the original matching process is key.

                Overall, I believe only certain types of people would be open to this type of living, but that is perfectly all right. This community is such that it can be a micro community integrated into existing cities. Only those who want to need participate. It also isn’t a great risk, because if the participants all choose to go back to single ownership backyards, they can put up fences.  I think that fact alone would persuade some people to try. It also could be done gradually. A few neighbors could decide to combine their space and slowly, as they increase their friendships, tear down fences.

Tearing down fences. Sounds like a good slogan to run by. Hopefully, in leading this movement, I would start walking in the front, but end with a group walking around me, not just behind. After all, bringing people together is what this community idea is all about. Many hands make light work, and some fences are taller and stronger than others. 

On Purpose or For a Purpose?

“Purposeful effort comes to mean, primarily, effort directed to or resulting in a more creditable showing of accumulated wealth” reports Thorstein Veblen. But who is judging the meaning? Is Veblen speaking of the person who is accumulating the wealth? The surrounding community? A higher observer?

Throughout his book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen details the “evolution” of the high class that works hard at being unproductive. In early times, when wealth was gained primarily through conquest, wealth and possessions were marks of a good warrior. At that time, a good warrior was a protection to the whole town, so honor was given to this mighty man by his community. As society progressed to the industrial stage, having possessions no longer was a result of protecting ones community, but the honor attached to the possessions remained. The result was that people didn’t care how goods were obtained, as in the past, but only that they were. The value was no longer in doing service for community, but simply in having the things that used to mean you had done service.

With this in mind, I would argue that in this quote, Veblen means that “purposeful effort” is judged by the community and from the community, the individual feels value. Wealth, for better or worse, is normally how people judge this “purposeful effort”. But I don’t believe that is always the case. Moral leaders, like Ghandi and Mother Teresa had little in the way of worldly goods, but are given great honor even today. I see two basic forms “purposeful efforts”. First, you can act on purpose, gaining wealth and fame or other such public indicators for yourself. This is the most common way, and the one Veblen details. The second “purposeful effort” is when you act for a purpose. 

Acting for a purpose means doing something that isn’t centered on you. A life centered on others rather than self contradicts Veblen’s picture of society, but that is what we as Christians have been called to. “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” says God in Exodus 9:16. Our purpose is to share our amazing God with the world. This is true “purposeful effort”.

Fresh Air vs. Time Square

       The debate has been going on for years but the actual trends are showing that urban living is winning over country life. An article from the Population Reference Bureau  Organization reports that of 2008 the United Nations has found 50% of earths population is living in urban setting. I’ve lived in neighborhoods and in the  country and as a result I am firmly a country girl.  Furthermore, I’ve always thought that people lived in the city out of necessity. “Who would live in such cramped quarters right up in everyone’s face?” was my thought. I have friends and relatives who tell me of the benefits of close stores, community, easy transport and other perks, but I internally thought of the apparent love for city life as a kind of “Stockholm syndrome”. People had to live there so they decided to find something to like rather than be miserable. I have been learning that this is not necessarily the case. Some people who have the option of living elsewhere still choose the city over the country side. Apparently there is more in this issue that I had previously thought.
Population trends are showing us that as the years progress, a larger and larger percentage of earths population are urban dwellers. Part of this is due to the fact that there are more cities, but the issue runs much deeper than that. Jobs, housing, educational facilities and community centers are just a few of the things that are more abundant in cities. Another cause for urbanization has to do with the productivity of the country dwellers themselves. As methods of production become more efficient, crop yields are higher. This allows the use of less land to supply the same amount to people.
While country living has traditionally been thought of as “earth friendly”, urbanization has is ecological pros and cons as well. More people living in a smaller space allows less use of land. The condensed population also makes it easier to supply food, electrical, transportation and many other needs.  On the other hand, more condensed populations are more susceptible to disease and a higher concentration of waste. They also drastically change the environment.
One thing to remember about the “urbanization” topic is that the term “urban” has many different meanings and connotations. Urban can mean simply “non agricultural”.  Many small towns are classified as urban but don’t fit the city connotation.  As in most things, the definition isn’t what matters, the actual concept is. For me, “urban” is being able to see into your neighbors house from your driveway. I guess people becoming more urban doesn’t mean there is more country space, but that the cities are expanding. This worries me a little, but I’m confident that country living will continue to be an option. Long live the country!

Turn-arounds

I'm sure we've all heard of people saying that they changed.  It may have been to a skeptical loved on or to a boss about to fire them or to a parent who only remembers the child they used to be. Many people say they’ve change, but there are a few story of extraordinary change that have struck me recently. The first life turn around I thought of was that of James McBride. In his book The Color of Water, he details the life of his mother (a remarkable life of change in itself) and his own life. He grew up with a white mother and a black step father. The majority of his side of the book shows his struggle to find his identity. He tries hard summer jobs, petty theft, organized robbery, and many other unproductive ventures. Life was tough and he carried anger for years.  He eventually makes peace with being himself, partially through discovering his mother’s history.  He is now a successful writer.

The second turn-around I thought of was that of St. Augustine of Hippo. Born in late 300 AD, Augustine’s time period differed greatly from our current time, but his story is surprisingly modern.  He was born in a “southern Baptist” style town where the Bible and the Church were the center of the community. He was a rebellious lad, delighting in stealing pears and getting the better of his teachers. As he grew older, he grew to trust his own intellect, scoring the church. He ran away from home and studied abroad. Shockingly, he entered into a relationship with a woman he was not married to, living with her and having a child.  He sat in on a famous speakers church services, thinking he would learn speaking and be immune to Christianity. God won his heart however and he was eventually baptized.  But once baptized, he resisted changing his lifestyle of sin, even praying that God would change his heart, but not quite yet. He finally realized that he couldn’t do it alone and turned to the One who could change him from the inside. “Without you, what am I to myself by a guide to my own downfall?” he stated. Through further study and discourse with friends, he is lead to a true conversion experience, eventually becoming a bishop. 

Change is part of life, but true changes of the heart are rare and amazing.