Wednesday, May 06, 2009

BE the change


On our day on the farm on Monday, John was wearing a t-shirt with one of my favorite quotes:

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" -Mahatma Gandhi

A few weeks ago our family was in the paper again. We hadn't broken any records, discovered ancient civilizations or robbed any banks. In fact, the Monday after the story ran a friend knocked on our door. When I answered he said, "Ya know, we hang our laundry too" (a topic from the article) "and we're not in the paper."

It became a running joke with our old 4H leader that Evie was always in the paper. A few times ice skating, skiing once, playing with a circus contraption, visiting the children's museum, hanging upside down at the gymnastics gym--always kind of ordinary stuff. Then there was the front page story of our 100 mile eating experiment and the various times we have been interviewed for the local news about things as mundane as chickens, rain barrels and the farmer's market.

Madison does have political drama, crime, road construction and art openings. I am so pleased that our everyday life continues to be news. I am both embarrassed and tickled when people say we are "an inspiration." So many people are living the same way, so many people are doing it more wholly than we are. They are our inspiration.

The point of all of this is that sometimes I feel SOOOO bogged down. I feel uninspired, boring, like surely I am screwing my kid up forever by letting her choose her own path. Then our regular life gets covered as news.

So even on those days when all you can do is BE, you are still changing the world. Wow!

2 comments:

tiff said...

love this entry.

did my laundry complaint inspire this...giggle :)

i love your world! it brings hope!

denise said...

I'm so behind on blog reading with the back and garden. Whew!

I know what you mean. We are in the paper a lot too...and I always feel like, well, so what? ;) But I guess that no matter how inspiration or ideas get out there, that at least they are there, and that we share them. But I agree - that by living your life, and being, and living as authentically as you can each step of the way, that it is allllll good.

Oh, and we want to hang our laundry!!! Many neighbors in our neighborhood going to the HOA with their anti-line rules and saying, HEY if this is such a "GREEN" neighborhood, WHY are you BANNING clothes lines? See? It is all good. One step at a time, but we still get where we are going.