what can be, instead of just what is

From the Sierra Club ...

March 24, 1989 will forever plague history as one of the worst environmental disasters of our time. Eleven million gallons of oil spilled into the Prince William Sound killing thousands of wildlife and destroying a complex and delicate ecosystem. Exxon promised they would clean up the spill and promised that those affected would get their lives back. Sixteen years later and the people are still waiting for their lives to become "whole" again.

So my Sierra Club Insider email tells me that I can host a party to watch the video of "The Day The Water Died." I signed up for my free dvd this morning.

I still want to host a roundtable discussion about the Free the Slaves information I've been reading through.

And I want to do research on this No More Deaths group based in Tucson, Arizona (2 members of which are facing felony charges for aiding people in the Arizona desert who crossed the US-Mexico border).

...

Ask me why I want to own a big house.

Because I want to have big parties with champagne and ballgowns and live bands and lights on the veranda. This is all true. I can't pretend I don't want it.

But as I think about the above issues and others like them, I think I want a big place because I want to host events in support of them. I want to host retreats. I want to gather people into one big place that's cozy not because Ethan Allen designed the furniture, but because in those rooms of that house, people find freedom to think. I'm not saying there won't be TVs in my house because there will be. And I'm not avoiding the internet (great article in Sojourners recently, by the way, addressing New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin's proposal that the city create a wireless network offering free broadband Internet access to residents and businesses. Says the chief technology officer of New Orleans, "it's a once-in-a-century opportunity to truly show the entire world what can be, instead of just what is, and help write future history in the process").

I'm just saying that when I think about what I'd pour my life into, this is what stands out. All sorts of people gathered into one place, talking with each other with their coffee cups continually being refilled, their heads full of thoughts and their ears open to one another as they discuss things that MATTER.

And awesome if conversations of energy shortages lead into games of euchre or if someone wants to start a game of freeze tag before a few of us sit down to write letters to our congresspeople while listening to ray lamontagne. Awesome.

Now it's a matter of praying, of seeking opportunities to do what makes my heart feel so alive. It thrills me.

My friend Mark - a masterful web programmer genius as far as I can tell - had dinner with me last night and helped me sort through ideas I'd begun to birth lately about creating a website to help people better navigate the city of Madison in regards to interests, activities, etc. Can you imagine what's possible if people collaborate? When ideas settle into the earth. When dreams become reality ... Little else seems as lovely as that.