Are you OK? Do you need anything?

The world will change when each of us
decides that we will write the story that
changes the way we see the world - Peter Block

You've seen the hype. Corporate America has jumped on the green bandwagon. Full-page newspaper ads scream

Company X really, really cares about the environment!

Here's an ad that I noticed in last Sunday's newspaper: Barneys New York offers a "green" shopping bag, embossed with their logo and made of leather -- for only $850!!

Wow. That sure puts to shame my plebian tote of choice -- a plastic market bag worth maybe two cents, folded up and residing in the bottom of my purse (or pocket).

So here we are at (the beginning of) a global economic crisis and staring into the face of environmental catastrophe, and the advertising/PR geniuses are helping Big Business write a variation of the same old story

Buy, buy, buy more of our stuff because, uh, we care about the environmental thing!

Yeah, I know. This edition of Mindful certainly isn't a holly jolly Christmas message, huh? But can you stick with me?

It's way past time to look at our energy usage and our buying habits and our food choices and what those are doing to us and to the animals and to the Earth. It's way past time to make major changes right now to the stories we are writing, to the way we are living and thinking. And here's a most important part to consider in this mess we've created: we will need each other more than ever. Yes. We must begin to take care of each other and communicate and connect and be responsible for another. 

Can we start that now? We certainly need some practice since we haven't been doing enough of it so far. It's the community thing, dontcha know. The "taking care of self and others" message vs. "me and mine first and everybody else get the heck outta my way."

A lot of people are quite good at that last one, and it may seem to be the survival story. It isn't. Remember, we need to write world-changing stories, not amp up the angry, fearful, every person for himself narrative.

Meredith Jordan, author of two excellent books, Embracing the Mystery and Standing Still, tells us of a woman -- a senior citizen living on Social Security -- who could easily give in to the "there won't be enough" mindset. Instead, she puts aside whatever money is left over at the end of each month. When she has $100 she finds someone in her community who needs it more than she does and makes a plan for giving it anonymously.

She's taking care of herself and one other.

Reading that story reminded me of a time far in the past when a friend had a very large phone bill. A family emergency had created long distance charges that she wasn't able to pay with her limited income. I wanted to help but thought she would refuse my offer. Besides, I didn't wish to saddle her with yet another unpayable debt. Anonymously, so she wouldn't be obligated, I took care of a substantial part of the bill. The money I will probably never miss, but the joy and awe in her voice when she told me that someone had helped? THAT I will never forget.

No matter what you call it -- Random Act of Kindness or Myself and One Other -- it's lighting a lamp. And it certainly doesn't have to involve dollars.

The images of broken freeways and collapsed houses in the San Francisco Bay Area after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake are burned into my brain, even though I lived in Southern California then. Do you remember? That endless loop of TV pictures ... people crawling along an elevated road to help those trapped in cars ... the burning, smashed-sideways homes ....

A friend recently told me of one false story circulating here, in San Francisco, after the quake. Bands of thugs were supposedly roaming neighborhoods and breaking into homes.

Two days after the quake, her doorbell rang. Through the peephole, she saw three men. They didn't look dangerous ... but there were those rumors, after all. Should she trust? Mustering her courage, she opened the door. The three explained, "We're checking on all of our neighbors. Are you OK? Do you need anything?"

It was lamp lighting at its finest. Her part was to open the door.

Wrapped up in ourselves and our fears, we all too often forget to ask those elementary questions. Are you OK? Do you need anything? You open your heart and extend a hand, acting as if you live in a world without fear.

Can we start writing that story? Now?

(c) Copyright Jane Allen. 2007. All rights reserved. U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1534-178X.