(This is not about Trump…)
I just finished a really enjoyable book called Running with Sherman about a man – Christopher McDougall, the author – who rescues a donkey from a hoarder and trains with it to compete in Leadville, Colorado’s infamous annual burro race. McDougall lives in Pennsylvania near Amish neighbors, and I love the vignettes he describes of Amish life – the simplicity, community, hard-working ethic, and the shunning of things that don’t build important life character traits.
This is one of the most poignant stories I came away with:
One afternoon, Sam and I went to visit his cousins’ buggy repair shop near Bird-in-Hand. “My uncle made a mistake with his business,” Sam told me. “He earned too much money.” Sam’s uncle was a whiz at salvaging unfixable buggies, even ones that had been crunched by cars in collisions. Since new buggies can cost up to $10,000, he began getting work towed in from as far away as Indiana and Kentucky. Word of his skill even spread to Disney and the Smithsonian, which hired him to restore vinatge Wild West carriages. Then, at the peak of his successs, Sam’s uncle hit the brakes. He gave away more than $1 million in savings, divided the business among his nephews, and moved his family to a small produce farm. Why?
“Raising his children rich wasn’t fair to them,” Sam explained…
Sam’s uncle knew that happiness, health, and security come from devoting yourself to two things – your family and your friends – and anything that doesn’t bring you closer to both is pulling you in the wrong direction. Distance and envy are too poisons that can destroy any community, and that’s why the Amish have a problem with cars, fasion, and even electricity: they let you travel too far, show off too much, and stare at screens instead of faces.
Sam’s uncle loved his crafts, but he loved his community even more, and when he felt himself being drawn away by constant praise, easy work, and fat paychecks, he had to make a change. His decision was a declaration of faith in the five words that define Amish life:
Slow down. Savor your world.
Most of us whipsaw back and forth all day, racing to save time so we can sit around and waste it. The Amish are skeptical of speed, so before accepting any new technology, they question whether it makes life better, or just go by a little faster. They don’t automatically reject new things; instead, each Amish district debates for itself whether this new thing will help them learn patience, self-control, and empathy. If not, maybe the smart play is to avoid it.
That really got me thinking all over again about how our American (and global) culture’s got it all wrong these days. In our quest for up-to-the-minute technology, immediacy, consumer products, and access to everything imaginable, we’ve inherently taught ourselves backwards values – impatience, impulsivity, a disinterest in stewardship, a distaste for stick-to-itiveness, and the constant wanting for things we never actually need.
It’s not just our character traits that are eroding; it’s our world. We’ve even forgotten how to cherish the land, grow food, and simply eat without dysfunction. Our health suffers, our landfills bloat, species die out, forests are cleared to manufacture Halloween candy, and we medicate to quick-fix it all. Our 10-year-old watched Wall-E the other day, and we are scarily on that very path!
So what can we do to change regardless of not wanting to change? I’ve thought about that a lot.
Here it is. We need a leader – either elected as President or instated by the President – who gets us back on track en masse. The kind of leader that isn’t sinking into the same old groove of past leaders, focused on topics like job creation for the sake of job creation. No, we need someone who sees everything from a big-picture perspective – that if we don’t start changing how we live in this world, life as we know it is gonna crash.
Kind of like the Native people who used only what they needed, and used it all. Or like the Amish above, who put character first, which in turn defines what practices they adopt. We need to put the big picture – living wisely – first, then how we actually live will follow.
Now, I don’t mean a leader who comes in and restricts us from doing everything we do. That’s a dictator who will cause chaos.
What I mean is someone who says, “Hey, let’s try some new things to keep our world from collapsing.” Someone who promotes biking and walking instead of driving. (What a crazy, simple, wonderful idea.) Someone who gets scientists and industries working full steam ahead on energy that really is clean. Someone who gets us excited about growing our own gardens and sharing with our neighbors. Who encourages us to make do with what we have rather than fill landfills with what we buy. Who transitions manufacturing from junky knickknacks to green “plastics” and revolutionizes technology to clean and conserve the land rather than use it up for the now.
Someone who promotes the idea that happiness may actually come more fully when we give rather than acquire, so that the needs in our global community are met. That fulfillment deepens from making wise choices rather than fiending for instant gratification.
A leader is powerful. A leader can embody a certain lifestyle and it will be embraced – without force or consequences for not following. And when people know others are doing something, they do it too. That’s massive, and it could be used in our global favor.
Aren’t Christians called to be stewards of the natural world? We especially should be concerned with how we live, what we use, and how we consume. But instead of it feeling like a downer or an obligation, we need a wise soul to lead us optimistically – cheerfully! – down a completely different lifestyle path. One in which we get excited about what we’re stewarding and saving rather than pining for what’s quick and easy.
CALLING ALL PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEAD! – with the mindset that we need to make complete 180s in our daily habits – happily and enthusiastically! Unless someone steps up to the plate with wisdom, discernment, and forethinking, we are going to entertain and technologize our minds, bodies, and land into ruin.
We need Earth for our great-grandchildren. Mars just won’t be the same.
Photo by Simon Migaj from the free stock photo site Pexels.com
Edee, I like reading your thoughts, and I agree with much of what you say in theory, but not in practice.
REGARDING LEADERSHIP: I need my government to protect my personal liberty, and for national security, and for infrastructure that is best done nation-wide instead of locally. I don’t need them to suggest a better way for me to live personally, because that can go wrong quickly. I already have all the leadership I need from the human side (Jesus) and from the spiritual side (God above and the Spirit living in me). Beyond that, I can show leadership in my personal life without pressuring others.
REGARDING TECHNOLOGY: Collaboration and technical advancement allow us more free time. We don’t have to spend all day finding and preparing food if we don’t enjoy it. Our society has advanced to the point where people have more spare time than any free society in history (not counting abusers like emperors with slaves). Some will waste their free time, some will use it in useful and charitable ways, like curing diseases or writing blog articles to elevate others (wink).
Understood. Yet with no force, pressure, or coercion whatsoever, a leader can have massive influence that can lead to change. It’s a no-brainer. Case in point: I had a pastor years ago that was given the position as spokesperson at our church for a Christian conservation organization called A Rocha. He wasn’t really involved with it much. A big annual church picnic was coming up, and I had watched in the past as the picnic would come and go, and the result was trash cans overflowing with waste. So I called him one afternoon and suggested that when he announce the upcoming picnic in church, he suggest that everyone bring a plate and fork from home, and that he would be bringing his from home too. As “conservation spokesperson,” his reply was, “No. It’s too hard for people.” I was so disappointed in his lack of leadership to make an easy, impactful change JUST by bringing a plate from home and suggesting others do too. Had he included that little addition in his announcement, I guarantee that dozens if not hundreds would’ve thought, “Hey, if he’s doing it, I can!” Suggestions and encouragements – without pressure or negativity – are POWERFUL. They’re happening all the time in roles of leadership, in all areas of living. I thank you for your ideas, though I think so much can be accomplished in practice by the mere bent of who is guiding a people group.