I am feeling more than a bit out of the cultural loop. I turned on NPR yesterday and the entire top-of-hour broadcast was about Michael Jackson. There was special on about his life last night and the story has lead every news show since it happened. Am I missing something here?
I keep hearing about his talent and his gentle soul and how so many will miss him so much. I’m sorry for the personal loss but has everyone forgottenwhat else he’s done with his life? The poor guy was, to be blunt about it, a train wreck and there is a fair amount of evidence that points to some really inappropriate behavior with children. He was a talented, even gifted, musician and he could dance but I am not sure that rates him this kind of coverage.
All of this gets me to thinking about heroes in hard times. When I see what people are doing to save the planet, protect the environment and educate about peak oil I am amazed. My good friend, Leni, started a program a couple of years ago aimed at eradicating the use of plastic shopping bags. She began a bag sew and share project that has mushroomed in to a movement. It incorporates out local prison population as well as any other group she can get to sew. She has collected more sewing machines than I can count and what must be thousands of yards of fabric and huge boxes of notions. Every week she goes someplace for a sew. This involves loading up her tiny car with machines and fabric and giving up her free time to get a new group going. When our local store went bagless, Leni had us sew hundreds of bags. The estimated savings in plastic bags for the Creamery alone was 49,000 per year. Leni makes no money for this and shuns any personal publicity. It is all about the bags.
Sharon Astyk is an inspiration. I have thought about a bumper sticker that asks, “What would Sharon Do?” I think about her every time I am making a hard environmental decision and just thinking that I would not want her to be disappointed in me often helps me do something hard but right when easy but wrong is what I might otherwise lean toward. Of course Sharon wouldn’t let us make a bumper sticker because of the wasted resources and she wouldn’t want any publicity that had to do with an automobile.
Storey Publishing is heroic to me. They have stayed so true to themselves. They have kept their offices in beautiful down town North Adams rather than move to NYC and continue to publish books that no other publisher would be likely to touch. I’ll bet every small scale homesteader who comes to this site has a shelf full of Storey publications.
This subject is not as far from the topic of preparing for emergencies and coming hard times as it might seem. We are going to need new heroes to replace the passing ones. I hope that, as a culture, we will let go of elevating in status people whose only accomplishment is making money or making trouble. It often seems that the morning news shows are scraping the bottom of a pretty yucky barrel to come up with people to interview when there are such interesting people out there doing inspiring and important work. Instead we are polluted with stories about Joh and Kate and the lastest celebrity to get the boot from the jungle. The only positive thing is that it makes it easier to watch the weather, then shut off the TV and get to work. If there was something interesting to follow, I might be tempted on these rainy mornings to get a cup a of second cup of coffee and watch. Right now, there is no danger of that.
The Just In Case Book Blog 
June 27, 2009 at 7:07 am
I’m so glad to hear someone else sick of MJ!!! As you said, talented? Absolutely! He was also a freak who tried his best to turn his 3 innocent children into freaklettes. He destroyed his own body, through drugs and surgery, and led a freakish lifestyle that brought about his own demise. Sounds to me like MJ got what he wanted.
That aside, my hero….my mom. Yeah, I know it’s goofy, but she’s amazing! She’s never done anything to change the world, but she managed to create an amazing life for me. She raised my brother and myself alone after my dad bailed (bad divorce)…she did it with no child support, alimony, food stamps, welfare. She provided a home, clothes, necessary vehicles, braces, on 7$ an hour. She taught us how to garden, can, cook from scratch, make do. She’s remarried now, and she’s provided us with an incredible stepdad, who loves my kids like they’re his own. You ask him and he’ll tell you…*he’s the papaw*! Blood kin or not. My mom is my hero.
June 27, 2009 at 7:25 am
How true. I’m a “news junkie” and the only thing good about all the MJ news is that I’m getting more done. How sad that is as a statement for someone’s life!
June 27, 2009 at 8:35 am
I love to hear about who others think of as heroes. Anybody else?
June 27, 2009 at 9:06 am
Too funny, WWSD? But seriously, the Catholic Workers are my heroes. They put their money where their mouth is when it comes to living the “works of mercy” and taught me much about nurturing community and standing up for what’s right.
I spent three years in a Catholic Worker community, and it changed my life. The most challenging yet rewarding thing I’ve ever done (aside from being a mom).
http://www.catholicworker.org/
June 27, 2009 at 10:28 am
Life for Americans is too easy and we are lavishly rich in comparison to the rest of the world. As a result, most people fill their time with idol worship of entertainers and sports figures. Personally, I think our recent recession is sort of a blessing. It causes people to stop and think about where their next week’s groceries are going to come from, how they are going to make a car payment, etc. Perhaps if it turned into a full on depression they would turn off the TV, abandon the idol worship all together and start working toward where the next meal would come from – perhaps starting a victory garden, learn a skill, etc. This is what it was like years ago during the Great Depression and it built character in people. Now most people laugh at that generation and talk about how weird they are saving stuff, etc. Opps! I think I got on my soap box. I’ll get down now.
June 27, 2009 at 11:03 am
LOL We like your soap box. I suspect a lot of people see the wisdom in what you say. The hard part is knowing how families will suffer. Most people have no idea where to start when it comes to providing themselves with food and millions live in places where it would be impossible to grow much besides pot herbs. I worry to about an aging population, too fragile to grow food. Who will care them? I wish it was an easy solution but it isn’t and a lot of innocent people will suffer for the sins of this extravagant lifestyle just as surely as our planets suffers now.
June 27, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I agree wholeheartedly. I caught that NPR coverage and was simply astonished that his death garnered so much coverage. Honestly, my reaction was: who cares? I mean, I know his family must really be devastated (they have my sympathies) and life won’t be easy for his kids. Beyond that, really, what difference does it make to the rest of the world? He wasn’t Winston Churchill, MLK, or Gandhi, for crying out loud.
I love the WWSD? idea, and I agree she’d not want us using the resources to make those bumper stickers or to have them plastered on cars. We must then keep these mental bumper stickers in our minds.
To make my mental Sharon proud today, I hilled the leeks, transplanted a rosemary start, planted some more okra, fed my worm box, and I’m experimenting with making soda from homegrown lemon balm and local honey. I think I’m going to harvest some oregano for drying in bunches too.
June 27, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Kathy, you are so right about the elderly and those in the city. It would be sad to see and I really DON’T wish it upon anyone. This earth will never be a Utopia.
In the meantime, perhaps they could all go buy your book?!
June 27, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I hope they do buy it but even a deep larder and some first aid supplies will only get you so far down the road. Our people, our tribe, our families will be the best preparedness. I hope the faith based communities will step up too. It is a scarey time, isn’t it?