Starting Where We're At --by JD

So, we're hardly the nonviolent-life Avatars (half our age, half the time) that we see around us in our progressive little town. But we gotta start where we are. And we're not in the same place we were even a few years ago, which tells us that even when you're as lazy as we are, change can happen.

Part of this game for us will be to talk about where we are, from whence we've come, and where we'd like to go, both the baby steps and the leaps.

This morning, after the dogs kicked us out of (their) bed and demanded their eggs & rice, we had to hustle the 3 miles down to the church to hear Chris Moore-Backman speak for an hour about Gandhi's practices and the wheel.

We rode our bikes, mostly out of rage at seeing more photos in the morning paper of the BP oil spill and the struggling, suffering, poisoned wildlife. Biking even that little way made me feel LESS angry, which makes me think guilt is a big part of my anger.

And the spinning of our bike tires made me think of Gandhi's spinning wheel, and how it was a spiritual practice for his community that became a symbol of their movement. Maybe the spinning bike wheel will become a symbol for a new Gandhian movement the USA.

Part of my current challenge with "withdrawing support from violent structures and building alternatives" is getting off of petroleum as much as humanly possible. Which is rough. That is, the amount of planning that goes into biking places, especially at night.

So part of my adjustment for now will be the easy steps. That is, bike where I CAN. Which actually is most places, most of the time.

Where the adjustment is much more difficult, I am considering spending double or triple the amount of money/energy/time associated with the petrol on alternative energy sources and movements--like carbon credits, but probably something I can more easily verify and take action toward locally.

It's not ideal, but it's a way for me to remove the unconscious aspect of the petroleum use, and begin to at least pro-actively address the vague sense of degradation I feel when I drive. Anyone else out there struggling with the driving thing?

All for now. Must go water the parched garden.