David Michael Bruno

There's Always Time After A Relaxing Holiday

I have the good fortune of working for an employer that gives a half-day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then the rest of the week off. It makes for a four and a half day holiday weekend. I thought very little of my employer during my time off, though I like where I work.

Those are different hours and attitudes than I kept over the last several years. One of the conditions of working for my own company was to keep working through every holiday, every weekend, and every hour of the night. Of course there were times over the five years I spent with ChristianAudio that I did not work. Mostly though, the business was always on my mind. I'd say that in the five years I spent starting and growingChristianAudio , there might not have been a single weekend I did not think about the company. For almost all of those eighteen hundred consecutive days, I spent at least a little bit of time thinking about the business.

I have determined to do things a bit different since leaving ChristianAudio. People have told me that an entrepreneurial spirit usually never leaves someone with that disposition. I don't feel like much different these days. But I want to act on my entrepreneurialism differently. One way I determined to change is to allow myself to  not be always filled with thoughts -- whether positive or negative or meandering -- about my endeavors. This holiday weekend, without thinking about it, I did not think about it. My concerns were not much on the 100 Thing Challenge or writing or reading.

Thankful

Thought I'd just mention a few things I'm thankful for today. Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. I especially like the fact that, though the day after Thanksgiving is often one of frenzied shopping, the actual day of Thanksgiving has little to do with stuff, and is mostly about good food, family, friends, and celebration.

I've thought quite a bit about what I'm thankful for and the same thing keeps coming back to the top of my list. It's going to sound a bit cheesy, but it's honest. I am thankful that our family is now in a position to help others financially. For half a decade that had not been the case. Now things have changed for us, even as times are not great for many others. It is a real pleasure to be able to offer help. Our household isn't turning into the Gates Foundation or anything. We can just do a little bit here and there. And I'm glad.

Figured I ought to also mention the personal thing I am most thankful for today. Has the 100 Thing Challenged made me more appreciative of the things I do have? Not sure. It certainly has made me not dwell on them a lot. I'm grateful for what I have. The old car. The great computer. My journal and mechanical pencil (though I left them at work and will not have them for five days!). My sunglasses are great. It's hard to single out that "special something" when the whole notion of special somethings seems a little bit empty to me these days. None of my material possessions are jumping to the top of my list. So I'll say that today, the thing I'm most grateful for our my hiking/running shoes. They can take me anywhere in all of suburbia and the city. But they can also carry me far afield.

Efficacy of the 100 Thing Challenge

Some recent comments hit on a key question about the 100 Thing Challenge. Will it work? That is, will the 100 Thing Challenge make me (and anyone else who takes it or some form of it) a better person? And will the 100 Thing Challenge make the world a better place? Here are some thoughts, to be worked out more over time.

My own feeling is that the 100 Thing Challenge by itself -- the actual practice of living with only 100 personal things -- is not able to make an individual more virtuous, and by itself it cannot make an economy more prosperous. But also...

But also, neither will a person grow his heart and expand his mind by lapping up material possessions like a parched dog. And neither will an economy growth more prosperous by stimulating credit spending like throwing the switch on a high-voltage electric chair. It is safe to say, I think, that the 100 Thing Challenge will not cause change in a positive direction. There are no guarantees. But what is for certain is that a greedy, covetous person will increase in vice. And also a propped-up, indebted economy will increase in poverty.

Helena Take Aways

I thought I would share a few take aways from my trip to Helena, Montana last week. A number of very kind people collaborated to invite me to speak at the Great Conversations dinner event in benefit of the Helena Education Foundation, and also at Carroll College. Unfortunately, after a public lecture at Carroll on Tuesday night, my voice was in shambles and I had to miss several classroom visits on Wednesday in order to rest up for the dinner. That's never happened before, and I truly hope the opportunity will develop to return to Carroll some day. They are a thoughtful and welcoming school.

The Systematic Nature of Consumerism. One of the discussion points in almost all of my conversations with folks was that consumerism is systematic in our country. Moreover, it is difficult to buck the system of consumerism. Essentially the idea is that our national economy and the lives of average Americans are dependent on a wasteful form of consumerism. It is not simple for a concerned and thoughtful person to just stop participating in the process of consumerism, either. It's not impossible. But it sure isn't easy.

I have many thoughts about responses to the systematic nature of consumerism. Here are a couple. First, wanting not to participate is a big part of the battle. It's been my personal experience, as well as my observation, that people intuit the wastefulness associated with consumerism is bad. But acting on that perception is difficult for many people. Right now the problems of consumerism are mostly described as emergencies by the media or advocacy groups. The trouble is that emergencies are kind of easy to forget about when it does not immediate affect you. It's doubly simple to ignore an emergency after it passes is you are addicted to the behavior that caused the trouble in the first place. And for many, consumerism has all the symptoms of an addiction.

Also, changing systems is not for the faint of heart. Perhaps there are a few special people out there who can lead the charge to change an entire way of doing things. This being Thanksgiving week in the United States, I think of people like Abraham Lincoln. He was one of those unique historical figures who could stand as an individual and lead an entire people through the trials of systematic change. Anyone remotely familiar with history knows the cost to Americans and to Lincoln himself.

But systematic change has many participants. Each one of us can do our bit. Then it is up to (in my religious views) God to take the work of some individuals and present it to the rest of the world for further consideration. With enough people doing their part and the right leaders raised up, more massive systematic change is possible. It never finishes the job this side of eternity. But it's hopeful nonetheless. What seems most positive to me, is that an individual or a household can go a long way toward changing for the better even if the larger system does not move much. All of us don't need to be wasteful consumers. We can be more thoughtful in our economics, even while the larger system struggles.

It Ain't Cut And Dry. I am a huge advocate for shades of meaning. Which one of us lives a consistent life consistently? As a number of my readers pointed out in the comments of my most recent Portraits of Our Economic Meltdown, sweeping statements of judgment are very dangerous.

I met quite a few people like me. Folks who know that wasteful consumerism is best avoided. Nevertheless, all of the people I met participated in the nastier side of consumerism to some degree. And all of them also had stories of resisting it. Many shared poignant stories of prioritizing family or education or nature or just simply time over consuming more stuff. There were a ton of people who had their priorities straight. Almost everyone avoidedWal-Mart! And yet, not a one of us were innocent.

That's one of the things I don't like about consumerism or materialism or the love of stuff. It breeds extreme reactions. We hear about ascetics who rebel and give up all their possessions, dropping out of life. Others jump fully into the sensualist lifestyle, embracing as much money, sex, and stuff they can get their hands on. Consumerism produces people like this, or people who think like this. But most of us aren't. We are average as can be. And we struggle with the ups and downs of the not-entirely-selfish people who we are. People who enjoy stuff but also long for loving relationships more than things.

Californians Be Cautious Moving To Montana. I didn't tell anyone in Helena, but our home group has a fantasy we'll never act on - we want to all buy land somewhere and circle our four ranches together to raise our kids and animals and enjoy nature together. We've been meeting with the same group of friends every week for twelve years. There's eight adults and twelve children. So I was also on a scouting trip in Montana. I found out that we Californians can get a ton of land at unimaginable prices. But there's suspicion in Montana about our kind. To be fair, we SanDiegans don't much like people moving here, either.

I felt almost like I could relate to the folks from Montana, because there used to be cattle ranchers in Poway, the San Diego suburb where I grew up. Now they raise Padres and Chargers and ex-bankers in those same rolling hills where once buffalo roamed. Considering the state of San Diego sports and the economy, you can judge if we're better off without the all the bull...

A Full Saturday

Last night, just before dozing off, I remembered to turn off my watch alarm and commented to my wife, "Glad I will not be waking up at 5:00 a.m."

But I did anyway. And eventually hauled myself out of bed around 6:00 a.m. to make the coffee and then take Piper for his Saturday-morning romp. We hike and run the hilly trails behind our house. This morning I came to grips with something I've known for a while, my shoes were on the brink. Normally I go through about two pair a year, but these have lasted much longer because my new day job does not leave time for trail runs. That of course has left me with rusty limbs and a worn out tire around my middle. Despite such complaints and a little cold, I stoked up the strength to run a few last hills in my tired shoes. It was kind of a last good-bye and thank you.

Piper and I got home, and I immediately got to work in the backyard shoveling his poop. He watched curiously. Then I started to dismantle our backyard. I'm completely rearranging the planters, and so moved all the cinder blocks off to the side. Then I proceeded to sledgehammer the little bit of patio that is going to be the heart of our new family garden. Let's just say it didn't take too long to remember that I'm still sick. Even so, I love using a sledgehammer to break up concrete. It's like using a powerful chainsaw to cut up a fallen tree. Satisfying.

So it was back inside for a delicious wife-prepared breakfast. Then clean up. Then grab my old-faithful running shoes, a sweatshirt, and an ugly button-down shirt and then stuff them all in a bag. Off my daughter and I went to the Goodwill drop off and then REI to replace the shoes. Unload three things, add one thing.

I love shoes. And especially shoes that can take me on adventures. I got some nice Vasque trail runners that probably will last me another year, given how few miles I'm putting on shoes these days.

Later in the afternoon we went to the local Alternative Christmas Market our good friends put on each year. Our girls each got some things: jewelery, a journal, and a creche. And I bought my wife some soup mix.

We ran into tons of friends and folks from around town. And best of all our girls were able to enjoy buying a little something with the money they've saved and feel good that their purchase was helping someone else in the world. That's a feeling kind of removed from most purchases. What fraction of each penny goes to the cashier at Wal-Mart? But when you buy at alternative gift markets or farmers markets and the like, a good portion of the money goes where it belongs, to the people who make the goods. I know it's not perfect and ideal and there are exceptions. Yet for the most part, buying from a real person helps us remember there are human relationships in commerce.