In an economy where one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, the idea of living simply is enticing. This blog post finds its inspiration from Lynn and Kathy who were looking for treasure one day… nevertheless, I placed my own spin on this topic.
Living simply is one of those those words like: reconciliation, community, and contextualization…. which have become a part of our christianese. They are buzz words in the Christian community that make our eyes perk up when you say them, but no one actually knows what it means. Well, when I saw Lynn and Kathy going through Divinity school recycling one afternoon, I couldn’t stop but to ask, “what are you doing?” And they politely answered, looking for cokes. In my mind, I thought, “if you were thirsty, why didn’t you say so.” But as we stood there, they made it clear that they were looking for cash. I will say that I don't know what they were spending their coke dollars on.
Coke Rewards = Simplicity. For those of you who aren't fmailiar, the tops of coke products are worth a certain number of points. The more points you accumulate, the more stuff you are able to purchase. Who thought that drinking more soda would be living simply. And even digging through the lost trash of the divinity school could be treasures that pay for weddings, furniture, gift cards, and more coke! Crazy.
Yet, can we claim this new era of coke to be living simply? I’ve always associated living simply with the Monastic Movement, and when I look back at the Desert Father’s and monastic’s of old and present, I find that their experience of simple living had to do with relinquishing their own desires in order to be more focused on God. And where living simply is a way to live with only that which is necessary to survive. I wonder if Gandhi, Mother Teresa, or St. Francis could get away with finding their purchasing power in coke tops?
I’m of the opinion that by buying into coke money we still participate in the oppression of others and satisfy our own desires. Just because you don’t spend your money on it… doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re living simply. By using coke rewards to purchase polo shirts… you’re still contributing to the poor working conditions and employees earning less than minimum wage. By buying tickets to Disney World, we’re kind of stamping the world with your very special God-given carbon finger print. But coke has something, thankfully, you can always donate your coke cash to charity and save the world.
Forgive me, I’m also skeptical of simplicity because in many ways simplicity is relative. For you, it might mean white picket fence and two car garage, and for others it might mean selling all your possessions and living with only necessities. And it may just mean dumpster diving or collecting coke tops to pay for amenities and perks that we can’t afford or don’t want to spend money on. As we move forward in this era of simple living, may we begin to think long and hard of what simplicity means to us and how we want to live that out in the world. For if calling our lives simple stops with coke tops, then Living Simply just means meeting our own selfish desires in ways that are less “normal” and more “natural.”
