Hugh Hollowell

Most of you know I work with the poor and homeless here in Raleigh. Some of you already help me with that in various ways (for which I thank you very much).

On my other site, I created a list of our most urgent needs right now. If you can help me with any of them, I will be eternally grateful.

Make out of it what you will, but the two posts on this site that Google sends the most people to are about Obama not being the anti-christ and gay wrestling.

I mentioned yesterday in my very maudlin post that I was tired of people buying things instead of doing things. I had several people email me or stop me in the coffee shop and ask me just what, exactly, I meant by that.

To support the troops, we buy yellow magnetic ribbons for our car and feel good. How about going to a VA hospital and volunteering? Well, yes, that would require you to change your life.

So, we buy a $16 t-shirt from American Apparel made with fair trade cotton by inner-city youths. [Rant: so, what is the message of American Apparel, anyway? "Our stuff is made so as not to exploit people, yet we objectify women in our advertising?" Sorry, rant over.] How about try to get by with fewer t-shirts? Or support your local charity thrift store and buy a recycled t-shirt for a buck? Or, heaven forfend, if you are truly worried about inner city youth, how about hooking up with an existing charity and volunteering as a mentor? Yep, another life changer.

We are worried about orphans in Africa, so we buy coffee for $12 a pound that gives kids in Africa food. How about… we study the issue, raise money (maybe by swearing off expensive coffee) and actually get involved? (Drink less expensive coffee? That is it, he has went over the edge!)

We hear that water bottles damage the environment, so we rush out and buy a $20 aluminum designer bottle. What if, instead of that, you bought one bottle of bottled water and actually saved the bottle? Better yet, I bet a friend already has some bottled water at their house they would give you. (But how would people know I am cool?)

So everyone knows that you are into saving the environment, you go out and buy a $25,000 Prius, financing it for five years.  What if instead, you actually decided to drive the car you have now, less? What if you decided to try to get by on one car, so you sold one of the two you have in your garage, paid off the other one and used the money you save each month to change the world? (What, and ride the bus? Do you know the dredges of humanity that ride the bus? You want me to sit next to those people?)

I have no problem with organic, with fair trade, with hybrids or helping orphans. My big problem is when people who buy $20 water bottles or organic coffee think they are actually doing something. Here is a news flash: you are not. At best, you are engaging in a holding action, rendering your footprint neutral (there are worse things, I guess). At worst, you are perpetuating the suicide machine that is the American way of life that says we are fulfilled by what we own, what we drive and where we live. Buying things does as much to halt consumerism as promiscuity does to encourage virginity. Instead, use your creativity and intelligence to find ways to reclaim, to recycle, to reuse and to halt the madness.

Change requires change. It just does.

1. I am tired of having conversations about poverty over $10 sandwiches.
2. I am tired of hearing people equate doing something with buying something.
3. I am tired of telling people “No, I cannot help you buy clothes for your new job”.
4. I am tired of #3 being because there is simply not enough money.
5. I am tired of watching my friends waste away from crack & alcohol.
6. I am tired of seeing people fail because they do not have basic life skills.
7. I am tired of thinking “friend” means something that others do not.
8. I am tired of censoring my thoughts so I won’t hurt my chances of raising money.
9. I am tired of wondering why there is money for war but not healthcare.
10. I am tired of being tired.

I know you’re busy and have better things to do than keep coming back and checking to see if I have updated the website. Give me your email address in the form below and you will get an email whenever I get around to updating the website.

FYI: I will never sell your info or spam you in any way.

Mi novia Renee riffs at her blog on what it means to Love Your Neighbor.

It is pretty rare these days that I call myself a Christian, prefering the title Follower of Jesus.  Brian Jones does a great job of explaining why he prefers to be called a Disciple rather than Christian.

Sorry about the language, but she does have a point…

credit:carldashjonesdotcom

A lot swimming around my head lately. I am busy as can be, yet not much seems to be happening. Things that should be being done are not, while I spend my time swamped by administrivia and paperwork.

There is so much I want to write about, but when the “work” is done, there is just not a lot of energy left over. I have a great blog post lined up right now, for instance, but it is complicated, so I am trying to pare it down, but finding the time and energy for that is more than I have available right now.

In any event, apparently blogging is contagious. Renee is now blogging; you can read all about our goings on at her new blog.

Brian McLaren talks about voting, both in elections and with our pocketbook.