A mindset of the American Dream is that happiness is gauged by the accumulation of things. Some people become angry when they do not have things. As most of you know, by choice and by circumstances both, I have been living out of two suitcases for three years. This simplification of my life led to an emphasis on the interior life and an de-emphasis on the accumulation of things in my life, a tendency, to be honest, for which I was not prone.
However, the "wheelie bin" syndrome of Americans astounds me after so many years in the EU. The proliferation of paper, plastic, various wrappings, and the lack of simplification of lifestyle, wherein the purchasing of fast food and therefore, the use of more paper and plastic add to refuse collectors' busy days, and to the problems of the lack of landfills, makes me wonder why Americans are one, angry, and two, so non-reflective of their lifestyles.
I cook, most women in my generation cook. That is not true of the two generations under me. The fast food and restaurant industries thrive on the fact that women do not cook.
Now, when one is without the means to cook, like the two men I have seen in the McDonald's who are homeless and who come in for a daily meal, that is not the same as those who merely cannot be bothered to shop and cook.
The wheelie bin syndrome allows for the proliferation of garbage. In some places, there is still no recycling and in some places, many items cannot be recycled-like yogurt pots.
I use to make my own yogurt.
St. Benedict Labre is one of my personal patrons. He made homelessness into an occasion of saintliness. People in his time recognized something in this man, because they looked at him. The homeless here are invisible. Some people with large wheelie bins do not see the homeless.
Wheelie bins represent the waste here. Recycling, which should eliminate waste, encourages waste, as fast food places can advertise that they recycle.
My ancestors used every bit of the deer and cows they killed and cleaned. My grandmother used fat for her hands. The generations of the past did not need wheelie bins.
This Thanksgiving, I ask readers to try and not buy so much and not waste. Europeans eat much less and waste much less. Of course, markets still exist, but few people use plastic bags and buy jute bags to use over and over again for shopping. Why cannot Americans do the same?
I am grieved by all this waste in view of the number of homeless and hungry people, to whom the Pope referred in his apostolic exhortation yesterday, and who are obvious to me in this Midwest city.
What would Americans do in a town, such as the one I lived in part of the time in Surrey, where garbage collection was only once every two weeks and recycling picked up on the alternate week?
Do Catholics stop and think that this waste can go on without limitations? The greed and lust of Americans has spun out of proportion to the blessings of this once God-fearing land.
It is not the job of socialist governments to take care of the weak and suffering; it is our individual duty.
We do not need all the boxes, bags, plastic wrap, and paper cups as well as bottles and cans which fill up our lives.
Ask yourselves and your families today and especially, tomorrow, how you can all cut down on waste?
I passed garbage bags in Chicago so full of thrown away food that I was ashamed and knew that the garbage dump gathering children of Central America could live on this waste. Skipitarianism, or the living off of things found in skips, or dumpsters, is a reality in many cities. When I lived in Calgary, there was a man who lived in the skip next to our apartment. I would bring winter bedding and hot food out to him. If you know the weather in Calgary, you might wonder if he survived. I doubt it. He took the things I gave him and and I tried to get help for him, but he disappeared.
A nation is not civilized which has starving, hungry and homeless people of any age. Catholics must begin to address these realities. In my diocese, there has been no Catholic Charities for a long time.
Why? The Protestant Work Ethic, which judges the poor and condemns them for sin and failure, is endemic in the Catholic circles.
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| Homeless Child 1860 |
Please take the Pope's words yesterday and apply them to your lives. I am trying to do that.
Giving money to food banks or homeless care centers is not enough. Those are temporary solutions.
America is no longer civilized. Judge by those who are hungry and homeless. Live more simply. Think before buying. Limit yourself.
Limitations are good.............
If you have not been following this, check out this link. God forgive us for thinking that all people have a "support unit".
http://www.policymic.com/articles/57113/hawaii-votes-homeless-people-off-the-island
“Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire, and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless starving wretch to lay him down and die. Many hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets at such times, who, let their crimes have been what they may, can hardly open them in a more bitter world.”
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
