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The Illusion of Need
So, I am less than a week away from being a Chimps Blogger for three months. If this were a place of employment, my probation period would be over and it would be time for my evaulation and consideration of permanent status. Over these last three months, I have tried to find out how you, Constant Reader, would best like to experience my thoughts on the world. I’ve written humorous pieces and self-history pieces. I’ve been poetic, serious, and even political. All the while trying to find out what you want. And you are hard to please.
So I am going a new direction. Mine.
I have been working on a book for the last few months, and I want to share with you my thoughts to more or less “field test” the manuscript. The tentative title is It’s Me: Collected Writings.
I hope you’ll let me stick around for awhile…
It’s Me: Collected Writings
– Author’s Note
I want to change the world.
But not in the Miss America, greasy politics, black-tie affair way.
I want to change the world. I want to see pain, hurt, loss, despair and hopeless because I don’t know what those are. What they feel like. I grew up in the suburbs, and it makes me sick that those adjectives exist in real life.
I want to change the world. Because I believe it is possible. My thoughts are not radical. They are not earth-shaking. And in most cases, not even original. But in the short course of my life, I have explored the application of these ideas and for the most part, they work.
For the last two years, I haven’t had direct access to television. I haven’t had a personal connection to the internet. My transportation needs were met by either the mass transit system of metropolitan Phoenix or my used (and now stolen) mountain bike for more than a year. In some cases, when the weather was agreable, or the distance feasable, I even walked.
These were all things that furthered the supreme dislike I already had for the ideals of the American Dream. Realizing that survival is possible without ESPN, instant access to eBay, or an SUV forced me to contemplate why they exist. Why people desire them. Why the illusion of those needs is so prevelant here in the States.
I want to change the world. But my faith gets in the way. I believe in an awesome God. The powerful Creator of all things created. The great I Am. And it is this same God that offered us, as wholly devious creatures, a solution to our depravity. But Jesus dripped with humility. Oozed compassion, and embodied every literal, contextual and connotated definition of the word ‘grace’.
Jesus never openly admitted that he was Christ, unless he was asked. He never ignited a philisophical or theological debate or discussion. The Jesus I follow lived his life in such a way that drew people to him. People saw him interact with other people, saw him cope with painful situations, and wanted to learn. He was the ultimate exemplar.
I want to change the world.
I want to change myself.
greg November 19th, 2006 10:17 am
Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond to this post. First and foremost, stay true to yourself. You will never please the Chimps Ahoy reader. They are so demanding!
You and I have talked a bit before about the illusion of need. Living in Australia was eye-opening. Aside from being in a country that wasn’t hated by the rest of the world, it felt like being in the US: same language, prominently white/Christian (at least the family I stayed with, definitely not the standard for the whole country) , geography… but it lacked the strong illusion of need. Take the cars, for example. I drove a 1992 Toyota Corolla (apprx $2500 US), and I would frequently get compliments about how nice the car was. I work in Scottsdale and drive a 2000 Mazda and EVERY week I get told I need a better car. I tease my boss because his luxury car doesn’t have the full navigation system with back-up camera, only because I know it bugs him. This family I lived with in Australia was an amazing example: they could have hoarded what they owned. They could have acquired wealth and bought the biggest house on the street. But they lived for other reasons. They gave their wealth away to support the students around them. They would often give rent money to people struggling, or provide dinners for anyone that asked. Wealth is commonly scorned by us “emergent Christians,” but it is a great thing (I believe Rick McKinley talks about this in his new book).
I wonder why I ‘need’ to live in the house I do. Why I need a pool, or 18” tile, or a 30” monitor on my computer (ok, not the last one). I was talking to Steve yesterday and we joked about our paychecks and what it would have been like to live on $300 a month rent again. Why do I need a mortgage that makes me live paycheck to paycheck?
Note the radical life Jesus called the disciples to: “Just go out into the world with the gospel with only the clothes on your back. I will provide the food and housing. Don’t worry about anything but spreading the gospel.”
Jess November 20th, 2006 13:58 pm
So do it already… Change the world, man.
But really, it’s great. Those are really great “ideas”.
shan December 5th, 2006 16:07 pm
i find its pretty easy to *think* and write about changing myself and the world…its clean and pretty to comtemplate the meaning of life and discuss how we want to reach out to the hurting and hopeless in the world while we sip on our starbucks…but for anything to change, there has to be action. i can talk about stuff all i want, but until i step out in action, my words are pretty meaningless…i have no idea what you’re up to, mr sam…if you are stepping out or not….dont let fear stop you…if you have the desire and are willing, God will take care of you and show you amazing things.
in short, “so do it already…change the world, man…”
