A meaningful choice

(The following was posted in very similar form in another blog of mine earlier this fall....)

When the agricultural revolution that began after WWII incorporated chemical fertilizers, industrialized agriculture and the use of all things corn in our food products, (the beginning of raising food that was not so labor intensive and thus "expensive") we started down the road to cheap food. Cheap by the world's standards - Americans spend less of their income on food than people in other countries. At the same time, we started down the road to cheap food of another definition - food that was less nutritious and as we've come to see, made with ingredients that have caused us to become a fat nation.

And while we were speeding up the growing, processing and shipping of food from all over the world to satisfy our hunger, we were losing connection to the seasons and the understanding of where food comes from. Starting about 40 years ago, large numbers of women (mostly women) walked out of the kitchen and into the workplace and they stopped cooking the way their mothers had. Individuals and families began relying on fast food or prepared food for many if not all meals. Yes, I know not everyone does this, but so many do...a common refrain among those who are trying to promote healthy eating is "nobody cooks!"

We tacitly assume that we don't need to plan meals. We decide what we want to eat on the way home. Rather than thinking through menus, working with leftovers and sometimes, eating what we have, rather than what we want, we assume the amazing choice of foods that we've come to expect will always be there. "Spontaneous shoppers" - those people who are driven by what they are hungry for or what's quick to fix - don't always eat well. Neither do those who can't afford fresh food and have to rely on fast food with lots of carbs, fat and sugar.

So here we are. A nation beginning (maybe?) to realize that we really don't have the control over the contents of our food that we used to. And although we do have control over at least part of our time, we've been trading eating well for other things. When I hear that someone doesn't have the time to cook, that's a signal to me that I may be in the gravitational pull of a bajiggity life. Everyone has all the time there is; what are the priorities that order the use of one's time? That's the question!

I wonder: what would happen if one day each month everyone in the country sat down to a home cooked dinner, made with fresh ingredients (dare I say locally grown/produced?) that was planned in advance and eaten with family and friends? It seems like one small step toward reclaiming a real, meaningful choice about how we live.

Perceptions of Success

I admire Elinor Ostrom for three reasons.

First, because the recent winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for economics (shared with Oliver E. Williamson) found something that interested her intensely and made it her life’s work. “Here” seems to have been enough; no constant scramble to get to the next topic, the next job, the next career. No need to constantly get to a new “there”.

Second, I admire Professor Ostrom because her research seems to be so hopeful; about distributing power more equitably and relying on the wisdom of those close to an issue of shared concern to make the right decision, assuming access to good information.

Third, Professor Ostrom’s work, while undoubtedly known to her peers, was invisible to the wider world until now. I admire her for having it be it’s own reward, for being driven by internal motivation and curiosity rather than desire for external recognition. Being driven by a need to be recognized would have required a great deal of patience.

This is a woman who seems to have lived the opposite of a bajiggity life. Admittedly life looks different in the rear view mirror than when we are living it. I don’t know the details of the Professor’s, but on the surface compared to multiple careers, multiple employers and multiple locations, the choice and ability to “bloom where you are planted” and make your interests the center of your work over a long period gives me a sense she is grounded and solid. Not inflexible or a Luddite, but the kind of person whose sureness encourages trust and whose ongoing curiosity engages conversation.

Bajiggity?

I guess it's important to explain a bit about the blog's name and reason for being. So here goes.

I'm a dreamer and someone whose life - from the perspective of the viewer who isn't me - has looked pretty satisfactory over all. I've enjoyed a good education, good, progressively responsible jobs, owned my own home, not been overwhelmed by debt, traveled some and pretty much been able to do what I wanted to. Yet, I've never been satisfied.

I've always looked for the perfect in myself and the situations in which I found myself. Not to mention in others. And one day I realized that always looking for the perfect made me miss out on enjoying the good. My never satisfied; next idea/relationship, please; happy = future; gotta have it the way I dreamed it way of life left me, well, bajiggity. Kind of antsy and anxious to be done with now to move on to tomorrow which undoubtedly would be better, happier, and more in keeping with my dreams. I remember as a child my mother telling me not to wish my life away. Well, that lesson took a long time to sink in.

So while I can't be anyone other than who I am - someone interested in all kinds of things and always seeing possibilities - I'm trying really hard to focus on the moment and what it offers. And take a deep dive into the few things that have stayed priorities with me over the years. Things like enjoying a conversation with friends, a shared meal, a sunset, a good book or just the fact that I'm here to think about all those things. And one more thing that stayed with me despite the years I spent full tilt running from it: my midwest roots. With all that freedom I could have lived anywhere, but never left the mid-est of the midwest - Indiana, Illinois and now, Michigan.

So the best I can explain it is that this blog is about the joy of being who I am, being where I belong and doing things that make me happy. And walking away from a bajiggity life.