KUFM Commentary- April 2005

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Just What is Enough?

by Pam Gerwe

I have 41 pairs of shoes: cowboy and hiking boots, ski and muck boots, sandals, flip flops, sneakers, clogs, and dress shoes. I have 110 clothing items to cover the upper 1/2 of my body: t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, shirts that live on a hanger, sweatshirts, sweaters, raincoat, jackets, and winter coats. I have 49 clothing items to cover the lower 1/2 of my body: jeans, dress pants, skirts, pajama bottoms, yoga pants and thermal underwear. These numbers don't include regular underwear or my box of shorts still tucked away for the season. I didn't count my socks, bras, hats, mittens, gloves or scarves. Suffice to say I have ENOUGH of all of these items also.

Enough. Just what is enough? Webster says enough is "as much or as many as necessary, desirable or tolerable; sufficient." Okay. I have 41 pairs of shoes. But 7 of them are strictly summer shoes--you know strap on sandals and cheap flip flops. I can say I have enough summer shoes if I can talk for a moment about seafood. I have had enough of several species of seafood. I grew up eating Chesapeake Bay crabs by the bushelful. But, industrial pollution, habitat destruction and too many of us eating crabs by the bushelful have decimated the population and there really aren't many crabs left in Chesapeake Bay. So, I guess I have had enough of them. Chilean sea bass? These guy don't reach sexual maturity until they are several years old, and enormous floating fisheries now harvest adolescent sea bass b/c the adult fish are all gone. Soon, there won't be any, let alone "enough." Free Range Graphics.com sums it up for us: "Take a pass on Chilean Sea Bass." And lobsters… OOOOOH, to try to satiate our appetites for lobster, divers must dive ever deeper and deeper with more and more frequency. The divers get "the bends" and free floating bubbles in their bodies' scramble their brains, causing permanent neurological damage. So, I have had enough Chesapeake Bay crabs because there aren't any. I have had enough Chilean sea bass because there soon won't be any and I have had enough lobster because I hate the thought of my food choices scrambling the brains of Nicaraguan lobster divers. But, really, don't feel sorry for me. I can still live a whole and complete life without consuming any of the many sea creatures on the brink of extinction. And besides, remember, I have 7 pairs of summer shoes.

18 of my 41 pairs of shoes are casual, work at the coffee shop, and go out to dinner shoes. I work at the coffee shop a few days/week and eat out a couple of times a month, so I will say I have enough casual shoes if I can talk for a moment about storage units.

There are about 81,000 residents of the Flathead Valley. Our yellow pages, (which grows fatter each year), lists 131 different storage unit facilities. If we guess there are 30 storage units per facility, this means there is 1 storage unit for every 20 Flathead Valley residents. How much stuff do we have if 1 in 20 of us needs a storage unit? When the war in Iraq (part 2) started, I had a fantasy: instead of bombs, we would drop seeds, books, and all the extra stuff we have in our storage units. I still believe this would facilitate a healthy change for both sides. Americans would be freed from the chains of our extra stuff and the Iraqis could grow their own food, read (or begin to learn to read) and they could gain some insight into the baubles we Americans love to hoard. Like my 18 pairs of casual shoes. But these shoes are on the floor of my closet, not in a storage unit. They aren't going anywhere. 18 pairs of casual shoes is just enough for me.

The final 16 of my 41 pairs of shoes are actually boots. Irrigation boots, digging a hole boots, cowboy boots, hiking boots, and ski boots. I will say I have enough boots if, for only a moment, I can talk about our houses. I love my home. My partner and I built it ourselves out of lots of recycled pieces--the old Pine Lodge cabins, a house from Martin City, the deck in front of the old Western Way building, treasures from the Creston Auction, the dump, yard sales, and junk and pawn stores. Within the past few years we have started buying a lot of our stuff brand new. We say we have now entered "TheWarranty Years." Our "Struggling Years" are a fond memory, but I am happy to be where I am now. I am also happy to be freed from the hundreds of hours we spent collecting, purchasing, designing, discussing, constructing, electrifying, plumbing, insulating, drywalling, painting, and [almost] finishing our home.

The other day, I was driving down one of my favorite rural roads. Suddenly, out the driver's side window, my view was assaulted by the most enormous house I have ever seen. Its size was ludicrous. A huge American flag flapped in the wind, decorating the unfinished plywood siding of the tallest peak of this monstrosity. Alone, in the car, I burst out laughing. WHY in the world would anyone build such an enormous house? Were they planning on relocating an Afghanistan tribe? A Mongolian village? One hundred homeless youth from the streets of Seattle?

My heart then flew to thankfulness. I was thankful my life was not complicated by the decisions and distractions required by such an enormous house. I became humbly thankful we were pretty much done seeking shelter. My house was warm, paid for, and almost finished. I thought about how lucky I am to realize I HAVE ENOUGH. I have the time to count my shoes… And the time to research and to think about the seafood I eat. And the other foods I eat. And the time to think about storage units, and how much we all really have. And I get to think about how once we have our basic human needs physically met, if we're lucky, we get to move on from mere survival. We get to move on from thinking that even 41 pairs of shoes might not be enough. We get to start asking lots of questions. And we get to strive to become more, oh so much more, than just merely consumers.

I would like to encourage everyone to inventory their clothes. I knew I had a lot of shoes, but I guessed 25 pairs, tops. As I reached 39, 40, 41, I began a journey I will never be able to turn from. Counting my closet has helped me realize I really do have all my physical needs met. And now, I get to really think about what it is to be human. I get to focus on my relationships, my community, and my politics. I get to focus on my spiritually. And most important, I get to start thinking about who I really am beyond the 41 pairs of shoes I happen to own.

I’m Pam Gerwe for the Alternative Energy Resources Organization. AERO welcomes your comments and perspectives. AERO is a grassroots membership organization working to help create farm, food, energy and growth solutions for communities throughout Montana. For more information about our programs call us in Helena at 406-443-7272.

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