6/8/02 VS Chicago Meeting Notes

 

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"We Took Control Again"
-How real people got off the treadmill
page 6, Simple Living Oasis, #36, Spring 2002

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Bob, Diane, Micky, Jenni, Bob, Vicki, Linda, Dave, Ross, Colin, Deb, Grant, Kim, Tom, Laura, Roberto, Mark, Mary, Nancy, Julie and Mike welcomed Patty, Susan, and Bob to their first meeting.

Mike opened the meeting space with a brief round of introductions and explanation of the meeting format. Reasons for attending simplicity meetings included:

The group then began posting and arranging topics, creating the day's agenda. Following is a brief recap of the discussions:

Living In Japan for the past 3 1/2 years...
Susan recently returned from a 3 1/2 year English teaching position in Japan. She shared her many experiences with living in a completely different culture and with the awareness of returning to the US. Since 1999, houses here got much bigger ("now it's 4000 square feet for just two people"). Refrigerators and stoves got bigger too. Susan had a very small apartment in Japan, which she later realized easily accommodated a Japanese family of 3. There was a small kerosene stove for heat, a small oven for cooking and a very small refrigerator that was just perfect for what needed to be kept cold. A public transportation system was readily available, nimble enough to take her to the smallest town/village. Social structure was interesting in Japan. Language has three tiers, the "highest" considered the most polite. Schools are ranked and thus folks become positioned by which schools they attended, often predestining jobs, marriages and social structures. Relationships could break up if you went to a #50 high school and your partner went to a #7 ranked school. Back in the US, Susan noticed she needs a car. While just about everything was within walking distance in Japan, its not so here. And in the US we tend to hop in a car and drive to a store for even the littlest things.

 

The 6/15/2002 Rolling Thunder Democracy Tour Event Plans...
Colin and Ross are heading up VSC support for Rolling Thunder. Laura, Pam, Bob, Woodie, and a host of other VSC folks will also be participating. Colin and Ross have reserved a "VSC Table" at the event -- a place where all those attending can learn about simplicity and the monthly VSC meetings. Handouts, posters, and informational business cards will be available there. Plans are to rotate staffing the table throughout the event -- this will provide everyone an opportunity to participate in the day's activities, talks, workshops, and music. Help is always appreciated, so if you plan on attending the event, please stop on by the booth and lend a hand. This tour is moving throughout the US, so what we can learn here about staffing a table, VSC info..., we can pass along to other VS groups in New York, Seattle... For event info, see: www.rollingthundertour.org or call 312-738-6123.

 

Indian Giving...
Roberto led this discussion on giving, borrowing, and sharing. Things are not always clear when it comes to borrowing. The early Pilgrims startled their Indian hosts by demanding things be returned to them -- items were thought of as gifts, and returning them was not understood. Be clear when giving. Be clear too when you loan or borrow something from someone => when do you/they expect the item back? Conversation moved on to sharing. Pacific Northwest Indians practiced "Potlatches", where abundance was shared to someone in need/a family just starting out -- an extra blanket, cooking utensils... We could share in our neighborhoods too -- lawn mowers, tools, and skills. "I don't know how to roof, but I do know how to work on your car..." And not only can sharing make your life simpler, it is also a way to increase relationships and community. Something to think about...

 

Reduction of the work week...
Mike shared an upcoming push for a shorter US work week -- a push to regain free time. Reduced work weeks were was so fiercely fought for and won in the early part the 1900's, only to be "given away" by us in the 1990's. Pressures of buying more and thus accumulating more debt made this trade of our free time agreeable. Affluenza author John DeGraff reports Americans on average work 9 weeks longer than our European counterparts -- in five years, that equates to working an entire extra year. No wonder there's no time for friends, family, or "sitting in the yard and staring at the sky so blue". Through a nationwide observance, perhaps we can bring the notion of calling for a return of our free time to a very large audience, resulting in critical mass awareness and political action.

 

E-Mail -- does it enhance relationships, allow for new, take away, its use/abuse...
It one of those things... Some folks like it, others hate it, most tolerate it. Diane led this discussion centering on awareness of how e-mail helps/hinders us. Nuisances included spam, endless forwards, and getting an e-mail from someone sitting on the other side of your cubical wall. While good for transferring files, documents, and communicating with others in distant parts of the globe, perhaps a simple phone call or holler over to the next cubical might accomplish more, more easily.

 

YMOYL "Seminars" / YMOYL questions...
After concluding 30 months of FI3 (financial independence), Mike & Linda are taking more active roles in helping others work the steps in the Your Money Or Your Life program (YMOYL -- Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, see www.simpleliving.net). Mike recently hosted an on-line YMOYL Study Guide session with 25 folks from around the US and abroad. This was his twelfth overall group session and noted that while the Guides are good, there may be better ways of helping folks achieve more of the benefits of YMOYL.

Linda and Mike have been contacted by a church group in Wisconsin to do an adult training program about YMOYL. Originally thinking of using a study guide, they are rethinking this approach, favoring instead a model used by Penny Yunuba and other FIer's in the Boston area. The Boston approach is to:

  1. limit class size to 30 folks
  2. enlist help of 3 FI Leads, each to mentor 10 students
  3. "screen" those interested in attending for reason why they wish to attend, which "FI" (Financial Intelligence, Integrity, Independence) they are most interested in, acknowledgement of the commitment needed for this work
  4. Leads work with their group one month prior, to work through specific steps and actions, and to complete reading the book
  5. each Lead to conduct a specific aspect of the workshop:

 

Also gleaned from Penny was, "There are at least 5 solutions to any problem...

"If you only see two possibilities - we don't have enough and there are no alternatives for us -- then you are stuck. Dream/brainstorm at least three other possibilities. Write them out no matter how ridiculous they may seem. You'll eventually see there are many alternatives and some you will be able to use. There are at least 5 solutions to any problem."

 

We adjourned the meeting at 12:20, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch and conversation along the west side of the Chicago River at Adams street.
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(Reported by Mike Lenich)