Independence and Self-Sufficiency

By Jonathan McCormick

I love the idea of being independent. I don't want to owe another soul anything in this world and if it all fell apart, I would like nothing more than to continue on my merry way without a hitch. Still, I know that this is not realistic. We need each other and even if I had all of the food and clothing and safe shelter I needed, I would ache for those that didn't and feel a little selfish for keeping all of my security to myself.

Still, I wonder about the idea of self-sufficiency. I read once that a nation where the citizens each produced most of their basic necessities is a very stable one and is hard to conquer but that a nation where the citizens don't produce their basic necessities is easily toppled. This makes sense to me and more than that, it feels right. I like the idea of each person being in contact with the basics of life and needing little more than that.

I am sure that we will always need each other, but I would rather need my brother for something that I actually need and he need me for something that he actually needs than for me to need him to buy something that I sell that he doesn't really need (did that make sense? - I hope so).

Here are some things that we really need:

1. Shelter
2. Food
3. Water
4. Clothing
5. Love

Now I know that there are more than these but this is a good start.

I guess the next question is, how do we get back to needing each other for what we actually need? A good way to start is by planting a garden. To me, it feels so much better to give my friend a box of tomatoes than to give him $1000. He can buy a lot of tomatoes for $1000 so why is it that the box of tomatoes seems to be of more value? I don't know. But the longer I live the more I am inclined to follow my gut feelings and my gut says that tomatoes are more valuable than Federal Reserve Notes no matter how much value people place on them.

Perhaps we are a long way from self-sufficiency as a nation but I believe that we can get closer one tomato at a time. I will not give up on common sense to spite its unpopularity. If nothing else, it is good for the soul to stand for something real.

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