i just got back from a retreat on social justice and simplicity. i knew coming into this year that simplicity was going to be my biggest challenge. i didn't quite get it. so i tried to interpret it before coming as cutting down on what i already own. that worked out well. helped on the move across the country. but i'm curious how much stuff i have acquired since i arrived. i know i've spent a significant portion of what i had saved. some of that on loans and some of the spending may be described as frivolous but i really have been much more conscious. i figured i could do this as long as i thought about it. but this weekend i realized that my life could do with a whole lot more consciousness. i've started to consider not only how i spend money but how i also spend time. is it meaningful to be back and forth on people's myspace pages? is my decision to not eat red meat meaningful? what do i do when there is "nothing to do"? what do i do when there is plenty to do? had a lot to think about this weekend. a whole lot. and i'm still thinking how i can improve but i'm going to start with writing, wearing a watch, and leaving my phone at home on the weekdays. we'll see where this leads.
we watched a documentary while we were on retreat too called "fighting for life in the death belt". and it's very simply filmed and is a very powerful story about the hoops lawyers jump through to get people off death row. i am very much against capital punishment until someone can explain to me how exactly it makes sense to kill people for killing people. it teaches nothing. to anyone. and no, the world is not perfect and people aren't perfect but who are we to decide whether someone deserves to live or die? it's such an archaic way of living (no pun intended.)
i met some amazing people this weekend.
one of them being tom cornell. he is probably one of the most fascinating people i have had the opportunity to talk with. he used to chill with dorothy day and tom merton. and he's had a most fascinating life working and writing for the catholic worker and fighting for civil rights. he's brilliant too and has an incredible view on the way things should be. i love old people. i could listen to them talk all day. anyway his son is available and single and writes for the catholic worker and tom is praying for him daily. needless to say ... all the single volunteers are planning to visit tom's farm soon.
i also had the chance to spend a lot of time with sophia thompson. this little girl is really something else and absolutely brilliant in her own right. i never tired of playing with her and when sophia laughs ... my heart literally skips a beat. we had so much fun together and all i could think was if only her innocence could be preserved forever and she could be shielded from the pain and terror of our world, a world set up for destruction if we don't get our act together in the next few years. i love kids. sophia made me actually consider having kids again. have to find somebody to assist with that first though. one of the only things you can't make happen on your own. how strange life is.
