Making a Difference

There are many reasons why I buy every book Barbara Kingsolver comes out with. I enjoy her writing style, she writes, most often, about things I enjoy/care about, and I feel so often as I read her words that "aha" or "yes" moment. A moment where either I agree so completely it's amazing or a moment where her words so perfectly describe my feelings and therefore makes them that more tangible and expressable.

There's another part of that equation--whether it's her fiction, nonfiction, or creative nonfiction, she has the ability to make problems seem surmountable. I'd say this goes double for her writing on environmental and food issues.

Changing the world is no easy task, and I think we live in a culture where (despite David and Goliath parable) chnage is viewed as negative and nearly impossible. If we put a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat in a room together--do we really expect peace or a calm resolution of some political problem? Perish the thought.

I have often felt that I will never change a person's opinion, I could never have the kind of influence to save something of importantce, and no manner of talking, writing, expressing will change the government, the policies, the ideas, the beliefs of the world in which I leave. And because of all that it's so easy to say, WHY BOTHER? My voice doesn't matter and it won't ever matter. The end. This is a philosophy that goes beyond my own personal crusades. Something won't turn out like I want it to, why bother? It's a habit ingrained in my own personality and ingrained in some portion in the culture in which I grew up.

However, reading Barbara Kingsolver often makes me realize that it's not so much the results as it is the try. I may not make a world of difference, but a person of difference works can be just as important.

"Small, stepwise changes in personal habits aren't trivial. Ultimately they will, or won't, add up to having been the thing that mattered." "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle."

I especially would recommend this book because of one simple fact: it isn't all about giving up. It's not about sacrifice or deprevation. It's about what you can do if you try. It wasn't about totally changing to local food and cutting everything else off. It was about trying to change and making more responsible choices. If you feel you must have something you can't obtain locally--try to find organic, free trade options.

I have to remind myself that change is not a over-the-night thing. There's so many things I'd like to change about myself--that I've tried to change for years--and still haven't succeeded. I can't expect to go local and be done with it. But, making smarter choices and integrating a different food ethic will help start taking steps toward change...and right now, that's the best I can do.

And there's nothing wrong with that.