Nothing is ever so expensive as what is offered for free
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It’s about once a year that I pick up a war-time book. I find books all types of ways- recommendations, book lists, and lots of browsing in the small Paradise Hills public library. When I am at the library I will grab a big stack of books, with low expectations, and be extremely pleased if even one of them is worth reading.
Anyways, that is how, about once a year, despite avoiding it, I find myself reading a book set in a real-life war (not fantasy war). It’s always a good reminder of what a lived experience in war actually looks like- eating wallpaper to stay alive during a famine, getting buried alive with an enemy soldier in the same rubble pile, losing your family members during a bombing of your rescue plane.
Why is this description in my weekly veggie list? Isn’t this a bit dark?
There is so much about attitude we can learn from the experiences of our ancestors and I want to share a quote from my most recent war-time book, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen:
“Nothing, the General muttered, is ever so expensive as what is offered for free”
This is in reference to the supplies (weapons, tanks, ammunition) the Americans supplied during the Vietnam war, and what it felt like when all of those supplies were retracted.
This is on page 4 of the book, so it did not take me long to start seriously pondering what that hard lesson learned looks like in our modern day. What are we getting for free that if taken away, we would be unable to provide for ourselves?
The obvious first answer, Google maps… I could not arrive anywhere without the directions spoon fed to me, mile by mile, foot by foot.
And FINALLY, one answer somewhat relevant to this newsletter, is our food. It is of course, not free, and is consistently rising in price, but what we are free from is the worry about bad seasons, poor yields, blights, and no longer do we have whatever mindset our ancestors honed to make sure that we can survive.
I am not particularly trying to be political here, and definitely not trying to incite the apocalypse hysteria, but just kind of probing, what is lost?
If an ancestor was able to time travel to today from 500 years ago, what would they see that we can’t? Would they be impressed by our food system or would they be concerned that we live in a desert and that when push comes to shove, we’d have little clue on how to feed our population without fossil fuels and the lone farmers chugging along in their tractor, managing hundreds of acres without much interest from the next generation to learn how?
Would this ancestor hesitate to make healthy choices? Would they eat to promote healthy digestion? Would they immediately check out the plants around their home for what is medicine and food?
Would they sit back and relax after walking into a Von’s, seeing all the food available, nicely packaged? What would their take be on bananas?
I don’t really like reading war-time novels, but when I pick one up with good writing, I will accept the invitation. Although they remind me of absolutely unimaginable circumstances, they also ground me in our own power as humans. Our own power to be on the offensive- to not be victims but to create strategies to survive.
With our ability to learn, we have the power to reflect on history and identify patterns, strategies, and risk.
With our consumption, we have the power to focus energy where change needs to happen.
And with a little help from our ancestors, we have the power implement strategies to keep us connected, healthy, sustainable, and grateful for each and every day of our lives.
