Greg Garrett

Greg_Garrett@baylor.edu
Word Count: 3259 total
(2627 article; rest sidebars)
Elephants in the Garden
and other stories of simplicity

A herd of hungry elephants thunders into a poor farming village

in Africa. They march through the compound, ravaging the crops,
stuffing themselves with the very stuff the farmers need to live. And
when they are done, they tromp away to their next meal, leaving the
tiny ruined humans to try and survive as best they can.
Oh well, we might say. Sad story. But they are elephants, after
all. Of course theyre hungrytheyre enormous! Theyre at the top of
the food chain. They have to eat more than their share.
But do they? Is it good for anyoneelephants includedto be
this hungry?

Consumerism and American Culture

Lets begin with some uncomfortable truths: America represents
just five per cent of the worlds population. That is, only one out of
every twenty people on Earth is an American. Oh, but we are a hungry
little person. We consume one fourth of the worlds resources. We eat
17 per cent of the worlds timber. We excrete an elephants share of

greenhouse gases. We threw awayin 2001 alone232 million tons of

garbage. In fact, Americans spend more on trash bags to get rid of our
excess than 90 of the worlds nations spend on everything they
purchase. Food, durable goods, health care. Everything.
And how are we paying for all of this? Consider: more than forty
per cent of American families spend more money than they earn. At
the end of the first quarter of 2001, Americans owed more than $660
billion on their credit cards alone. To keep up with our lifestyles, too
many of us work too many hours, take a second mortgage on our
homes, and still we discover that we dont have enough.
We have already accumulated more stuff than anyone else on
Earth. Are we the happiest nation on Earth because of what weve
been given? Is our faith stronger? Are we better adjusted, less fearful,
more content?
No. Something is terribly wrong in America, and our staggering
rates of obesity, depression, teen pregnancy, violence, and suicide are
symptoms of a larger problem.
Its time we made a change in our priorities, pursued a different
path. And I am here to offer a suggestion: voluntary simplicity.
People who practice voluntary simplicity make buying decisions
based on what they truly need rather than what advertisers say they
need; they replace the almighty dollar as the god of their daily lives
with a life centered on family, friendship, and faith; in their buying

choices, they try to live in harmony with the environment and with
other people.
I used to live the American Dream: a new house in suburbia, a
new car, maxed-out credit cards. But before I even knew what it was
called, two Baylor experiences had started me on the path to voluntary
simplicity.

Africa, Thoreau, and Hard Questions

In 1994, my Baylor colleague Blake Burleson took me as a faculty
member in the Baylor in Africa program. It changed my life. For five
weeks, I was part of a culture that disdained deadlines, treated
distance as something better measured by stories than maps, believed
that I actually meant we.
When we stayed with villagers in the hills of Northwest Kenya it
was simultaneously the most challenging and most illuminating
experience of my life to then. Some of our students went a little crazy,
I think. Maybe I did too. Because what I discovered seemed crazy to
me. These members of the Bukusu tribe, certainly among the worlds
poorest people, were some of the most joyful people I had ever met.
It made no sense. They possessed fewer clothes than I carried in
my backpack; they lived in crumbling houses of mud and wood, cooked
over open fires. I was raised to give my nickles and dimes to the Lottie
Moon Christmas Fund for such people. But here was my new Bukusu

friend Douglas Wanyama. He didnt have a library or a Palm Pilot or the

complete second season of The Sopranos. But he had something
better.
He had a smile on his face.
How could this be?
When you start asking questions, sometimes theres no stopping
them. Each seemed to lead to another. Had stuff ever made me happy?
No. Did the idea of pursuing more stuff make me happy? No. In fact, as
I contemplated catalogs and shopping malls and credit card
statements, it made me feel sad. Empty. The kind of feelings that make
Americans want to go out and buy more stuff.
So I turned to the Bible, examined what it had to say about
wealth and acquisition. It had a lot to say. Here is the merest sample:
Consider the lilies of the field, Jesus said. They toil not; neither
do they sow. And yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as
one of these.
The love of money is the root of all evil, Paul said.
I will not accept your gifts and offerings, Amos said, speaking
for God. Not until you realize that being chosen is not a privilege; it is
an obligation.
Of those to whom much is given, much is expected.
But how much is expected? Well, that question can be asked in
this way: How much do I really need?

Every time I teach American literature, I teach Henry David

Thoreaus classic book Walden. But in the fall of 1994, just back from
Africa, I did not teach the book; the book taught me.
What is truly necessary to life? Thoreau asks. Our work and
commerce, the hustle and hurry of our lives, the goods we lay up for
ourselves, the mansions in which we shelter ourselves? No. Simplify,
simplify, simplify, Thoreau advised, and he threw his paperweight out
the window as an object lesson. Slow down. Reflect. Open your door
and your heart to the natural world. Dont be afraid to march to the
beat of a different drummer.
Even now, Walden is a counter-cultural slap to our consumer
society. What do you want us to do? my students invariably ask. Its
not like we can go off and live in a shack in the woods like Thoreau
did.
I know, I tell them. Im not suggesting they do such a thing.
Thoreau wasnt either. But, like Jesus, I think Thoreau was offering up a
parable from his lifes example: a life lived in voluntary simplicity may
be more fulfilling than a life lived according to societys standards.
Better for you, better for those you love, better for the larger world.

Chocolate and Choices

Perhaps youre starting to imagine how a simpler life might work
for you and your family. But how is it better for the larger world? you
might ask. What possible difference do my decisions make?
A lot more than you know. Did you know that the item of
designer apparel youre taking to the checkout stand was made by a
woman in a sweatshop in Bangladesh who was beaten and threatened
during her fifteen-hour work-shift ? That she earned a nickel for that
shirt for which you are about to pay forty bucks? Has it ever occurred
to you that in the process of our consuming one fourth of the worlds
resources and generating our mountains of trash, ordinary Americans
like you and me have become unwitting agents of oppression and
injustice?
No. Of course it hasnt. These arent stories we often hear from
the mainstream media. They arent stories we even want to hear. But it
is, nonetheless, an important part of the concept of voluntary
simplicity. As weve noted, voluntary simplicity is about spending less,
about reducing, reusing, and recycling to walk more lightly on the
planet we share with the other ninety-five per cent of human beings.
But it also has to do with recognizing that today our simplest consumer
choices may have a moral dimension.
It takes effort, Ill grant you, to be a conscious consumer (a
reason weve included some resources to help you learn more about

voluntary simplicity and choices that promote peace and justice around
the globe). If youre like me, the thought of examining your purchase of
a pair of socks may be enough to make you slap your hands to your
face and scream like Macauley Culkin in Home Alone. But dont
despair; it is still, as that quintessential American capitalist, Benjamin
Franklin said, possible to do well and do good.
By buying Fair Trade coffee, for example, you can be assured
that coffee pickers in Latin America are paid a living wage for their
labor. By refusing to patronize the many stores selling goods made
with child or sweatshop labor, you can send a message to retailers that
you arent willing to sacrifice women and children on the altar of
convenience. By shopping in a thrift store or buying a used car, you
save both money and natural resources compared to buying a new
product. Even through something as simple as paying a little more for
organic produce, you can keep pesticides and chemical fertilizers off
your food, out of our water, and away from the workers who picked
that produce.
Becoming an informed consumer requires commitment. So does
living a life of voluntary simplicity. But it seems to me that this is worth
doing. Does any of us want Americas tombstone to read: They were
selfish. But at least they had some really great stuff?
Simplicity can help bond friends and family. Sustainable living
can help us tread more lightly on the earth so it can welcome our

children, and their children. A life focused on family, God, and

community is rich in delight. And voluntary simplicity can be an
important part of a spiritual practice: this is Gods wealth; I try to keep
only what I truly need and give the rest away.
It may be a disturbing thing to discover that there are people
beneath our feet; it certainly was so for me. But Im encouraged
beyond measure by this: with patience and concentration, even
elephants can learn to walk more lightly.

Sidebar 1
Some Suggestions Toward a Simpler Life:

Buy only what you need. And before you buy, ask yourself why you
need it.

Recognize that the purpose of advertising is to get you to buy

things. The satisfied customers in commercials? Theyre actors.
Theyre paid to look happy.

Ask yourself how your buying choices affect others. Try not to
support injustice elsewhere. Try not to purchase things that use up
unnecessary resources.

Make a budget and stick to it. Overspending may be a result of

under-planning. And youll be less likely to make unexamined
impulse buys if you havent budgeted for them.

Resist the desire to own so much. Share things. Borrow books from
the library. Use a public swimming pool instead of feeling compelled
to build one.

Place God, your friends, and your family at the center of your life.

Adopt giving as a lifestyle. Youll help others by giving of your

resources and time, and youll also find the joy and satisfaction that
you probably never got from buying things.

Reduce your food consumption, and eat fresh foods. We eat too
much for our own good, and consume too many chemicals,
preservatives, and hydrogenated fats in the process.

Reduce your need for things, reuse everything you can, and recycle
when you have no more use for something.

Be creative in your pastimes. Next time your car heads to the mall
on auto-pilot, remember all the simple thingsreading, walking,
town concerts, gardening, wildflowers, touch footballyou might
share with those you love instead.

Make simplicity a part of your spiritual practice. To be a committed

person of faith calls for a life more attuned to the things of God than
the things of man.

Sidebar 2
Resources for Further Study:

Affluenzaa condition defined by the books authors John De

Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor, as a painful, contagious,
socially-transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste
resulting from the dogged pursuit of moretakes a hard-hitting look
at the social, environmental, and spiritual costs of our addiction to
possessions. (Berrett-Koehler, $16.05)
The Tao of Enron: Spiritual Lessons from a Fortune 500 Fallout by
Chris Seay and Chris Bryan (Navpress, $16.00) contains spiritual and
practical guidance for those interested in pursuing a simpler life as part
of their Christian commitment.
Sarah Susankas best-selling books The Not So Big House
(Taunton Press, $30), Creating the Not So Big House (Taunton Press,
$24.95), and Not So Big Solutions for Your Home (Taunton Press,
$22.05) offer comfortable alternatives to the bigger-is-better approach
to home design, while Natural Home presents resources for healthier
living and a simpler lifestyle (Subscription $24.95/year to PO Box 552,
Mt. Morris, IL 610540552).
Alternative sources of news like the Christian social justice
magazine Sojourners, Mother Jones, and Utne, and websites like
www.abolishsweatshops.org are much more likely than mainstream
sources of news to provide economic, environmental, and social
coverage that will help you make informed decisions leading to a life
lived with simplicity and justice.

The Catholic monastic writer Thomas Merton had much to say

about the values of a simple life lived in contemplation and community.
His autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (Harvest, $16) explains
his transition from brilliant student and writer to Trappist monk, while
his book No Man Is An Island (Harvest, $14) brilliantly examines both
our interdependence and the rich life of the spirit we can live when we
realign our priorities.