Sunday, June 04, 2006

Living More with Less

Susan and I read the book "Living More with Less" on our honeymoon in Maine and were thankful for the language to express our thoughts and the many practical ideas and encouragement that this book of 25 years ago provides. It's premise is that North American society is too affluent and out of touch with the rest of the world, the creation and ultimately itself and that in order to fulfill God's desire for justice, it must find ways to live more simply. The book is full of voices from the Mennonite tradition; certainly not a group of people known for their affluence. Nonetheless as North Americans listen to voices from around the world as well as share their own ideas, the book is a sharing circle for those who are willing to be shaped by such prophetic voices.

One thing that weighs heavy on modern societies (especially one like South Korea) is acquiring stuff and then throwing it away - even though it is still good! It seems that the owner of this cassette player got a new one, but this one that was in the garbage on the street in front of our building works fine! It even still had a cassette in it. Susan should appreciate this for listening to her tapes for learning Korean.

And I'm not entirely sure why we brought this mirror home out of the garbage - perhaps simply because it is a good mirror and couldn't stand to see it in be destroyed simply because someone didn't want it. I suppose it will be useful, given that it is a full-length mirror.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, if that's now your mirror... is that your piano?? I didn't know you had a piano! Exciting!

Susan said...

Yes! A piano! Digital, but weighted keys (feels more like a real piano). We bought it.... about two months ago. Gordon is learning how to play too now!