The Me Plant

Carlos joined us in our Wednesday morning Free Store conversation and led us through the final verses in the book of Galatians.  He started the conversation by telling us that ultimately people were all equal and there was no need for a hierarchy between people.  We talked about how the best relationships are those in which there is a mutual giving and receiving.  As we discussed the importance of positive relationships George said that you can be hangin around the wrong crowd which will get you in trouble.

At this point Carlos said that we tend to reap what we sow in life.  He said that we can plant things like greed and anger which lead to pain and misery or we can plant love and courage which lead to peace and life.  He went on to say that it is not good if we only live to please ourselves and cultivate the "Me Plant" which made us laugh.  Someone asked, "What is the difference between pleasing myself and loving myself?"  We talked about how loving ourselves doesn't mean doing everything and anything that we want.  Carlos said that it is like kids that may just want to eat doritos and candy.  At this Sheila said, "you got to eat more than junk" which made us laugh.  Carlos said that you have to learn to love yourself in a healthy way.

We talked about how important it is to know the right way to love ourselves. Someone said that generally things that don't require much effort also don't return much of a reward. Exercise is hard work but it is very rewarding when done consistently.  Loving ourselves might actually mean doing hard and difficult things at times which might not be very pleasing in the short term but will payoff big down the road a way.

Our conversation took a turn at this point and we sort of circled back to talking about hierarchies which elevate some people over others.  Carlos made us laugh by talking about how it would be if plumbers would elevate themselves over other people and demand that we serve them.  He said that this would be a failure to recognize that plumbing is meant to serve human beings and not human beings to serve plumbing.  Admittedly this was a rather strange analogy but we did have fun with it.  Rick seemed to enjoy it a great deal as he is the resident plumber and has had to unclog the free store toilet many times.

We talked about how people often elevate themselves over others and take power from others.  Someone mentioned a lyric in a Black Sabbath song called "Heaven and Hell" that says, "The world is full of kings an queens that blind your eyes and steal your dreams."  Jack said that you don't even have to be the head honcho but can enjoy just being part of the power structure.  This led us to talk about how we have to be aware of the mechanisms of control by which people will manipulate us to serve themselves and their systems rather than looking out for our interests.

Carlos suggested that even churches and non-profit organizations can forget that they exist to serve people.  He said that religions as systems are mostly hierarchical and self-serving.  Jack said that he had seen a bumper sticker one time that read, "Spiritual people inspire me.  Religious people scare me."  George said that outreach organizations get money based on the number of people they help and that sometimes they may forget that it is really about the people.  He also said that he knew people that would just stay in a relationship with someone because of the monthly check and food stamps.

As our conversation moved to a conclusion Carlos encouraged us to find positive ways to make our lives better rather than just focusing on the rules and the "dont's" and blindly following people and systems.  George told us that he had learned recently that you don't walk in the park after dark because he and Rick were stopped the by the police and told they shouldn't be there.  Carlos said that he would stop them as well which made us laugh and ended our discussion in a fun way.