17 comments

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  johnsob5

  8 months ago

  I've been on the floor for about a year now for the very same reason.
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  Scott Hendricks

  8 months ago

  Perhaps other popular luxuries we could do without:
  television and its accompanying entertainment
  music players and music collection
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  Maria Kirby

  8 months ago

  Even very poor people seem to be able to afford TVs.
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  Maria Kirby

  8 months ago

  I have a suggestion: walk. Walking, carpooling, these are the things that broke the back of the Jim Crow laws of the South. Walking together was one of the ways Gandhi helped create solidarity. Most of the world doesn't own a car. The poorest can't even afford a bus ride. And WWJD? I only remember one time Jesus did anything but walk. If walking doesn't work for you get a bicycle. There are affordable bikes that work for all kinds of handicaps, even being pregnant.
  
  Our consumption of oil through transportation is a major source of CO2 that contributes to global warming. If enough people chose to reduce their CO2 footprint then Ethiopia would not have so many droughts and there wouldn't be so much starvation there. Or Bangladesh would not have so many or such severe monsoons which cause massive loss of life and crops. Not to mention those living in the arctic regions, New Orleans, etc.
  
  By walking or biking you could save a lot more money than you could ever get selling your bed. You could identify with the poor and Jesus. You could be part of the solution to global warming. You could get all the exercise you need without paying a health club. You would start to know the community you live in. You would meet other poor people who walk. Life would take on a slower pace and there would be time for meditation (as you walked).
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  Jason Winton

  8 months ago

  Good suggestions everyone! What about the textile industry? How do we "walk" (thanks Maria!) in solidarity with farmers--whether they be USAmerican or Malaysian or Mexican or Chinese? Gandhi was well-known for spinning his own cotton. If I'm right, I suspect we will need a little more "motivation" before trying that one. What do you think?
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  joet

  8 months ago

  This is a question I have been thinking about in some depth. Gandhian (which seems to have much in common with Chestertonian distributionist) economics would suggest that we should use the resources we have around us instead of relying on goods from elsewhere, particularly if imports rely on people working for low wages and in bad conditions.
  
  I conclude that we need to do more to support local production - where wages and conditions are (at least supposed to be) better. In terms of materials, we should be more reliant on things we can grow ourselves, and/or materials we can reuse. This depends on where you are - the US has an enormous (and very heavily sprayed) cotton crop, whereas it does not grow in Europe. However, we do have a huge pile of old clothing which could - if we had the motivation - be remade into new clothing.
  
  Coupled to that, I think we have to ask questions about why the poor person is involved in the supply chain when they see so little of the money generated by the global fashion industry. The long term solution is not to continue encouraging them to overproduce disposable fashion for our markets - which in the process make a very small number of people very rich - but to find more sustainable things to do that do not involve exporting to us.
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  Maria Kirby

  8 months ago

  Wear used clothing.
  
  I would like to see a machine that could be used in a home to convert plastic bottles into fleece or nylon thread. Polartec is made out of plastic bottles. If it could be done on the scale of a cottage industry, it would give the poor an occupation and keep a lot of plastic bottles out of landfills, etc. (Not to mention the cost savings of not transporting a lot of trash.)
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  Maria Kirby

  8 months ago

  P.S. Mending and cleaning stains honors the hard work of the poor people who made the clothes in the first place, and changes us from being a disposable society.
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  Jason Winton

  8 months ago

  Maria,
  
  I totally agree about wearing and repairing used clothing. If we all did that the corporations wouldn't know what to do. Thanks for the comment.
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  joet

  8 months ago

  Maria, as I understand it the only places where the facilities (to make this recycled nylon) are big enough are in China. I don't think it is possible to do it on a cottage scale. I cannot rationalise sending trash to China for them to process and send back again. But I like your thinking.
  
  You might be interested in the report we are currently writing about recreating a fashion industry as if people matter - see here.
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  Jason Winton

  8 months ago

  Joe,
  
  You've got an impressive clothing/business idea! When I wrote the initial question about textiles, I didn't necessarily expect folks who are actually working to change the fashion industry to comment. I'm glad you did.
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  Kara Tupy

  8 months ago

  Well, brother Jason, the pregnant part of me definitely wigged out at the thought of Julissa sleeping on the ground for the remainder of her pregnancy. Although, I, as does she, realize women all over the world do it everyday.
  
  I think your "solution," in the long run, served a greater purposes of not only funding your in-laws trip, but rallying your friends and nearby family to work together for a common good. Maybe it felt like a compromise, to keep your bed, and I guess you could argue that, but I'll bet you helped more people to hear your message and to join your cause. Not that you should stop preaching the selling of beds. Someone's got to do it and eventually, we'll hear it and be ready to respond by actually selling our beds.
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  Ryann Cox

  8 months ago

  Great article Jason. Thanks for sharing.... keep on keeping on. Ryann
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  Joana

  8 months ago

  Jason,
  Wow. I'm more than a little disappointed in myself at this moment. As I read your article I became courageous. I really envisioned myself on the floor. I was going to do it! However, when I read your conclusion I immediately lost my impulse to do it. "If Jason doesn't do it, then I won't either". That is what I thought. That is what I'm thinking...
  
  I'm very disappointed in myself but not enough to cause me to ACT.
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  Jason Winton

  8 months ago

  You're not alone. :)
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  ..

  8 months ago

  Jason,
  
  After reading some of the comments I acknowledge that there are many ways you or I can reach out to help the poor and needy. A noble act of sleeping on the floor would serve as a constant reminder of all the comforts we take for granted; my respect to anyone who does sleep on the floor acting in the same sentiment you make mention of.
  Interestingly, your post also highlights a subtle irony. Understandably your wife’s yard sale for your extended family is very justifiable. After all, how could anyone deprive three generations celebrating life’s biggest gift? Objectively speaking, this case of travel is an indulgence which seeks to satisfy desires of intangible pleasure. Similarly greet of Wall Street is the entertainment of same underlying motivator – benefiting self. I believe this is the very fabric that is woven into American society is of capitalism. This is what makes our country great - its basic premise of self propulsion.
  
  It is very easy for one to point the finger and blame the rich for the gapping economical divide and dream about a socialistic society where everyone has equal. As we live in one of the richest countries in the world, shouldn’t our socialistic ideals reach out on a global perspective? Even the poor in the US have much more than most of the world. Even if we were to start today who would be the first to get such preferential treatment? The ones we love? The ones who we live close to? Even so, is there a hint of selfish desire in benefiting those we are most in contact with? And if this selfish desire is underlining our noble acts how different are we really from the rich or Wall Street?
  
  Just a thought :P
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  Jason Winton

  8 months ago

  I’ve been having a hard time thinking of a response to your comment. Part of that has had to do with the difficulty in the questions you asked, but more so it has had to do with the overall nature of what you wrote. Maybe I’m totally missing your point (quite a possibility!). It could have helped me out if you had expressed what you wanted to say in a more personal and relevant way. Perhaps then our stories might have met--they might have introduced themselves and maybe interacted a bit. Nevertheless, I trust that you wrote with sincerity and would still like to answer your thought-provoking questions.
  
  1. "As we live in one of the richest countries in the world, shouldn’t our socialistic ideals reach out on a global perspective?" That will depend on what you mean by "socialistic ideals." I do not endorse socialism (or capitalism!) as the either/or system for closing the "gapping economic divide" between the poor and the rich. Also, it seems to me that it is impossible for us to form a global perspective on something without reaching unwittingly into abstraction. So, as an alternative, I would recommend thinking in terms of local households or economies as a way to discern the proper scale and distribution of God's blessing.
  
  2. "Even the poor in the US have much more than most of the world. Even if we were to start today who would be the first to get such preferential treatment? The ones we love? The ones who we live close to?" I would start with the ones who you know personally. This seems to be the easiest to overlook when talking about "big ideas." Like I suggest on your first question, I believe a coherent economy/community knows its limits and is willing to enter into the mess with concrete action.
  
  3. "Even so, is there a hint of selfish desire in benefiting those we are most in contact with?" Not necessarily. I doubt my in-laws from Peru will ever get to meet many of the rich families who could potentially benefit them, and yet If I ignored my own family’s need simply because they are my family (and in fact people I care about deeply) wouldn't that also be selfish of me? I’m just trying to do what I can with the relationships I’ve got. No more and no less.
  
  4. "And if this selfish desire is underlining our noble acts how different are we really from the rich or Wall Street?" I am complicit. We all are, some more so than others. I believe God is asking us to repent and seek restitution (see Luke 19:1-10). That was the motivation behind my act. I hoped, in writing about it, to provoke our imaginations toward graceful economies, even while in the midst of empire. That was/is the reality I hoped to see.
  
  Best Regards,
  
  Jason
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