"We choose to live simply so that others may simply live"

JVC is founded on four pillars: Community, Spirituality, Simple Living, and Social Justice. Simple living is an interesting element of JVC and a lot of service programs, especially those that are rooted in spirituality. It is also probably the most difficult part to really explain along with community...maybe that'll be another entry.

But. To my point: Simple living is a hard nut to crack, even for myself. And so explaining it to others is really difficult. Why is it important? Why would we go and do this and live on $100 a month and not be completely compensated for our work? Why would we willingly give up comforts and conveniences?

It's hard to explain...and it's hard to do.

Simple living, to me, is about living in solidarity with the community we live in and serve and being intentional about our choices. It includes living on a limited budget--a limited community grocery budget, a limited personal stipend--but it is also more than that. I could go through this year and do nothing else but stick to that budget and that might not necessarily be living simply. Simple living is about understanding how our choices can effect those around us, how small decisions we make every day can have an impact on a bigger scale. So sometimes it involves making sacrifices--shorter showers, using a clothes line to dry instead of a dryer, not having a dishwasher, not having air conditioning, conserving electricity. They seem like really small things but it's about working to cut out some of the things we take for granted every day in normal life in middle class and upper class life in order to be more appreciative of what those every day decisions mean. Maybe I won't spend the rest of my life hanging my clothes out to dry, but this year I have to be very aware of what my electricity and gas budgets are because the money is limited. These kinds of decisions can have a benefit on my life going into the future.

Simple living is about understanding one's place in society and how our actions can be powerful if they are intentional. Access to water is such a world problem and I'm sure it's an issue even among people we live around in LA. By conserving water in my life I can minimize my waste and hopefully I can spread awareness to what an issue water scarcity is. Wars start over access to water, dreams die if water can't be reached...Matt Damon, actually, is a huge advocate for this work and he has a great article about the power of a town well in creating opportunity and economic possibility in the developing world. That's not quite what I'm talking about right now but it's still important. You should read that article, it's fascinating. 

Simple living is about giving up every day conveniences in order to be mindful of how wide the disparity is between where we come from and where we serve. It's about reevaluating every day choices in order to be more informed citizens so that, maybe, we can help bring change and help bring attention to that disparity.

All of that said, I'm struggling with simple living. On the one hand I think I'm doing an OK job at it--I'm mindful of what I spend, how I use water, how often I hang my clothes to dry instead of use a dryer...I don't always do that well, though. When it's not a convenient time to do those things I choose not to because it's easier. Simple living is not easy. It's anything but. I also wonder if those small choices really even make a difference or mean anything or if I'm doing it just for the sake of doign it and inconveniencing myself.

I also struggle with it on deeper levels.

In terms of my health I can't take care of myself on the JVC budget--it requires outside aid. Is that OK with JVC's mission? Am I betraying something by not using my stipend to give myself things I need to keep myself healthy? Is it betraying that solidarity? I can't tell...and it makes me feel like I'm missing out on parts of the experience or I am not committing myself...will I still get and give back what I'm supposed to?

And then there's the matter of the cell phone and technology. I'm in a long distance relationship, and I can't give up use of a phone or my computer all together because although simple living is important to me, that relationship is my greatest priority and I am not willing to give up opportunities to speak with Sara and talk to her. It might be causing some concern among the community, I don't know, but there are sacrifices that I am not willing to make and I may have to address my feelings in that matter.

We have also discussed simple living in our community to a degree. What is the point of it? Why do we do it? We have to be wary of not doing things just for the sake of doing them. Sacrificing things without reason beyond "we have to live simply!" doesn't make sense to me. I also worry about the process of thought that simple living means allowing no pleasure or time for yourself. No convenience, no room for entertainment, etc. We can't allow that to happen, either, because self care is an incredibly important aspect of JVC and with all the hard things we are through we have to allow ourselves a break and a chance to take time for ourselves.

We have access to a car and we've had a lot of discussion about how that is to be used. Its most basic purpose is for myself and Meg to get to work every day. Beyond that--should it be used at all? Does simple living and living in solidarity mean that we should never use it because the homeless don't have access to a car? It's a delicate balance on how we decided it should be used, maybe some people are not satisfied with the answers we found, but I do not think that utilizing a resource is wrong. We have the car provided to us, and making use of privilege or resources shouldn't be something we feel guilt and immense strain over, should it? We have to take care of ourselves, we have to allow ourselves some level of comfort because we should enjoy this year, not go through it miserably in the name of simple living.

People keep asking me why don't I do this or buy this to make things easier? Why don't I just go grab fast food once in a while or buy some snacks since I don't always like what we eat in the house and we have a limited budget to buy groceries and sometimes things are scarce. Tell us to go see this thing or that thing in LA. Ask us why don't we have AC or why don't we get fans or just things that seem so "obvious" to do. Simple living is the reason...we have to find our way.

It's a hard balance to find, it's never going to be easy.