everything to gain...

I have recently come across a quote, and stop me if you've heard this, although you likely have, "live simply so that others may simply live". Now, I'd like to consider myself a somewhat considerate person, and so being, I sat and reflected on this for some time, eventually arriving at a bit of a plateau. To what extent am I to simplify and is context at all a factor? After all, the Great White North isn't a simple place to live. We have needs, and dire needs at that. Extremely demanding needs of dire circumstances at times.
Keeping all this in mind it seems to be appropriate timing that next week I will be attending the Whitehorse Sustainability Design Charrette, where there will be a 4 day discussion on the inevitable future of 48 million bucks for our community infrastructure. In an interview with a organizer of the "charrette" I was asked what type of "hat" I will be wearing. Meaning, I suppose, who will I be representing through these discussions. However, I took this question literally. What kind of hat will I be wearing, and for that matter, what kind of pants, shirt, socks, shoes and jacket will I be wearing? How will I be getting there and what kind of food will I be eating and finally, where will it all come from!!!??? I suppose these are fairly fundamental questions when living in the Yukon. Being that a very vast majority of everything we own and consume must be imported into the territory from far off exotic and ,sometimes incompressible lands, and as most of us know, made in incomprehensible conditions to that of our Canadian working environments. In short, we are relying heavily on very complex systems of manufacturing and distributing. Well the whole thing is a but much for me, But it's a new day, and I'm thinking what the hell, it's not to late to learn how to make my own hat or my own pants, shirt and so on. And maybe I can learn how to grow my own food and possibly in time I might learn to give a dame about my neighbor and help him grow his own food, and help him fix his house or whatever good neighbours do.
What I'm getting at I suppose is that until very recently people knew how to do these things, and not only that but these fundamental abilities were completely integrated into the social structure. Kids weren't bored and adults weren't unemployed, and no one was homeless and food could be sought out, these were basic principles of living, this is simplicity.

Next week things like this will be discussed as concerned with Whitehorse and the Yukon, and it's my impression that it's a serious attempt towards a healthier, and globally consious community being built over a period of some odd years.
But in the meantime we's got some livin' to do, so maybe we ought to get busy learning how to do somethings, simplify and make your own life, and get involved with community developement because if you don't, I garentee that someones going to get involved for you.

There will be a public open house each day of the Charrette, from Monday Oct 22nd to Thursday 25th at 7pm to 9pm to hear and comment on a summary of the days dicussion up at the Mt. McIntyer sport lodge (just above the Cananda Games Center)