41 Lawnmowers: Why I need community Pt.2
Well, got an e-mail from Andrea yesterday reminding me that I'm maybe not quite as horrible a person as I make myself out to be :). I partially knew that, but yeah, the reminders are always good.... & needed.
Oh, & on the way into work I realized that my (original) copy of Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' is likely in the stack of CD's loaned to Marie.... sigh....
Part of my thoughts with 'Grace' & borrowing stuff stem from these two songs that Billy Crockett contrasts on his live "In These Days" album. I first listened to this CD a long, long time ago on the road past Whidbey Island in Washington state. The songs really struck me then in their beautiful bluntness & the lessons/messages from them have stuck every since:
"41 lawnmowers" by Billy Crockett
"Find a good old neighborhood. / A square block of the USA. / Stake your claim. / Claim your space. / Sink you r roots & live your days.
Build a fence / close it in / raise a lawn & grow some kids. / Make a name. Name your friends. /And that's the American way to live.
and 41 houses, only 1 street /41 yards, 82 trees. / 41 mowers all sitting in sheds / 41 families in over their heads / & everybody's got their own everything.
from the Bronx to Hollywood. / Montreal to Mexico. /The fever grows. /Go for gold. / Gain the world & lose your soul
Push & shove / don't look back / Absolute success attack. / Insulate / Cul-de-sac / Prove the universe of fact.
41 houses, only 1 street /41 yards, 82 trees. / 41 mowers all sitting in sheds / 41 families in over their heads / 41 neighbors with nothing to say / building their lives the American way /& everybody's got their own everything.
41 houses, only 1 street /41 yards, 82 trees. / 41 mowers all sitting in sheds / 41 families in over their heads / 41 tables for 41 meals, 41 hundred automobiles/ 41 neighbors with nothing to say / building their lives the American way /& everybody's got their own everything. "
"Find a good old neighborhood. / A square block of the USA. / Stake your claim. / Claim your space. / Sink you r roots & live your days.
Build a fence / close it in / raise a lawn & grow some kids. / Make a name. Name your friends. /And that's the American way to live.
and 41 houses, only 1 street /41 yards, 82 trees. / 41 mowers all sitting in sheds / 41 families in over their heads / & everybody's got their own everything.
from the Bronx to Hollywood. / Montreal to Mexico. /The fever grows. /Go for gold. / Gain the world & lose your soul
Push & shove / don't look back / Absolute success attack. / Insulate / Cul-de-sac / Prove the universe of fact.
41 houses, only 1 street /41 yards, 82 trees. / 41 mowers all sitting in sheds / 41 families in over their heads / 41 neighbors with nothing to say / building their lives the American way /& everybody's got their own everything.
41 houses, only 1 street /41 yards, 82 trees. / 41 mowers all sitting in sheds / 41 families in over their heads / 41 tables for 41 meals, 41 hundred automobiles/ 41 neighbors with nothing to say / building their lives the American way /& everybody's got their own everything. "
This is the song that was running through my head while thinking about the whole 'Grace' thing. This pictures the lifestyle I live of where I have to have all of my own everything. Mostly it's the convenience of not having to ask to borrow or make arrangements to share. Most of it's just easy-ness.... or maybe being lazy, or selfish, or just wanting to isolate & insulate myself from having to rub shoulders with people around me & have to take the time to spend with people.
One of the love languages I operate most in is 'time'... If someone wants to show they love me, the simplest way to do it is to make time for me. Though I am a bit of a time hog & will eat up people's time if they let me. But time is one of the commodities that I very much see as limited. Each of us gets the same 24 hour portion each day & all of us get a lifetime of these (some lifetimes are shorter than others, but still...). So we get this gift of the number of our days & then get to choose how to 'spend' this gift. You can't hang on to them, or 'bank' your time for a rainy day later, you are always being forced to 'spend' your moments in the perpetual now of life. And so it's not a matter of choosing whether or not you'll spend your time, it's just how you spend it....
...and so knowing I have limited time, I tend to guard it, sometimes a bit too carefully. I alot time for myself now - which I never used to do, but I'm learning I have to do this to maintain sanity. And I don't feel guilty (much) for this anymore. And then I alot my time according to the 'circles' of closeness. Those closest to me get access to my time pretty much whenever they want & if they don't try to make use of that, I'll track them down & spend organize time to spend with them. & then it just extends from there. I make choices about who gets a part of my 'time' & I recognize that to really nurture a good relationship (or anything for that matter), it takes time....
...and so in places I'm miserly with time. I try to keep open to relationships, but am kind of selfish with my time & have tried to stop just giving my time out to everyone & everything that wants it....
... so I live some of the 41 lawnmower lifestyle because of being afraid that I don't have enough hours in my day. Part of it is self-preservation in some sense. It's this pursuit of trying to make sure your needs (& wants) are filled, which is maybe silly some days, especially with a God who promises to look after you (not that I'm that good at trusting that either).....
...but yeah, I keep thinking that it's the 41 lawnmower lifestyle which is killing our planet & north america far more than anything else. It's our consumerism & waste (i.e. buy lots of crap & throw the older model crap in landfills) that drives our industries to produce so much... & yeah, I guess this is simplistic. If there was no industry, there'd be no jobs. No jobs, no money to buy stuff including food, people would starve (or at least us city people who've forgotten how to look after ourselves without a grocery store near by).
...but yeah, the '41 lawnmower' lifestyle was what I was thinking about when I wrote the 'grace' post - this is the 'disease' that I'm infected with, along with just pride & things like that....
.... this second song is Billy's response/contrast to the 41 lawnmower lifestyle. It's a lifestyle that the people at the community house are starting to aspire to & one that I am hoping to grow into as well.... It's something where you can look at it & think, "my that's naive, it's too simple".... but sometimes I wonder if it's the simple things of actually loving people (which is in reality perhaps the hardest thing to do) that can really change this planet....
One of the love languages I operate most in is 'time'... If someone wants to show they love me, the simplest way to do it is to make time for me. Though I am a bit of a time hog & will eat up people's time if they let me. But time is one of the commodities that I very much see as limited. Each of us gets the same 24 hour portion each day & all of us get a lifetime of these (some lifetimes are shorter than others, but still...). So we get this gift of the number of our days & then get to choose how to 'spend' this gift. You can't hang on to them, or 'bank' your time for a rainy day later, you are always being forced to 'spend' your moments in the perpetual now of life. And so it's not a matter of choosing whether or not you'll spend your time, it's just how you spend it....
...and so knowing I have limited time, I tend to guard it, sometimes a bit too carefully. I alot time for myself now - which I never used to do, but I'm learning I have to do this to maintain sanity. And I don't feel guilty (much) for this anymore. And then I alot my time according to the 'circles' of closeness. Those closest to me get access to my time pretty much whenever they want & if they don't try to make use of that, I'll track them down & spend organize time to spend with them. & then it just extends from there. I make choices about who gets a part of my 'time' & I recognize that to really nurture a good relationship (or anything for that matter), it takes time....
...and so in places I'm miserly with time. I try to keep open to relationships, but am kind of selfish with my time & have tried to stop just giving my time out to everyone & everything that wants it....
... so I live some of the 41 lawnmower lifestyle because of being afraid that I don't have enough hours in my day. Part of it is self-preservation in some sense. It's this pursuit of trying to make sure your needs (& wants) are filled, which is maybe silly some days, especially with a God who promises to look after you (not that I'm that good at trusting that either).....
...but yeah, I keep thinking that it's the 41 lawnmower lifestyle which is killing our planet & north america far more than anything else. It's our consumerism & waste (i.e. buy lots of crap & throw the older model crap in landfills) that drives our industries to produce so much... & yeah, I guess this is simplistic. If there was no industry, there'd be no jobs. No jobs, no money to buy stuff including food, people would starve (or at least us city people who've forgotten how to look after ourselves without a grocery store near by).
...but yeah, the '41 lawnmower' lifestyle was what I was thinking about when I wrote the 'grace' post - this is the 'disease' that I'm infected with, along with just pride & things like that....
.... this second song is Billy's response/contrast to the 41 lawnmower lifestyle. It's a lifestyle that the people at the community house are starting to aspire to & one that I am hoping to grow into as well.... It's something where you can look at it & think, "my that's naive, it's too simple".... but sometimes I wonder if it's the simple things of actually loving people (which is in reality perhaps the hardest thing to do) that can really change this planet....
"All Together" - by Billy Crockett
(CHORUS) All together Sing the song, all together, everyone belongs together a family, we are all all all all together.
“Life is what you make it”, that’s what they say, but Jesus says you find it by giving your heart away. So we’re here together and love is the key that opens every lonely heart and shows us how to be
(CHORUS) All together Sing the song, all together, everyone belongs together a family, we are all all all all together.
Friends are smiles God sends to brighten our way A friend is someone special like love on a summer day So we are here together in God’s family to smile together, cry together, love and learn to be
(CHORUS) All together Sing the song, all together, everyone belongs together a family, we are all all all all together.
spoken: In Christ there is neither Jew, Greek, male, female, rich or poor, we are all one. There is neither graduate student or freshmen, there is neither honor student or drop out, we are one.. in Christ. There is, I want to say no color, but I think I'll say there is all colors & it's all good.... He said I am the vine & you are the branches. Stay connected. Stay attached to me & I will keep you together.... love each other.. isn't it better love than that someone would lay down his live for a friend & then He went out & did it...
posted by Kirk Holloway | 12:36 PM
3 Comments:
Death to lawn mower manufacturing madness. Besides, you could just get rid of your lawn and plant a garden... Which would take up time, but maybe we'd have more if we were hanging out gardening with neighbours instead of watching twenty-four (just kidding, I'll let RJ continue in his TV ranting).
Yeah, there are a lot of "Food not Lawns" organizations out there. It's a good cause & definitely makes more sense than wasting a bunch of water on something that's technically a weed (though maybe this is just me being mr. bitter pants 'cause my lawn is slow to grow & i don't look after it well enough).
... and on the flip side of the argument, maybe we'd have lots of good community if we invited people over for group watchings of '24'... I know the 24 debate is more tongue-in-cheek than serious, but honestly, for a while there I had ALIAS parties at my house & we'd have like 8 people watching ALIAS at a time & chatting & hanging out. It's maybe not real deep time, but it lays the groundwork of spending time, growing trust & preparing for deeper times.... (on a slightly off topic note, I tend to watch TV/movies with God a lot. We just hang out together watching the tube & then talk about the show during or after it's all done... it's been a rich experience & it's amazing how much he talks about through TV/movies, or any story really....)
This post is ancient (by internet standards) but I am teaching a series on giving. I have actually shared a lawmower with our neighbors for 5 years now (we take turns buying the next one) and I remembered Billy Crockett's song from ages past - googled it an ended up here.
Thank you for this post - I plan on sharing it during our church series on giving.
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