I am a consumer. I like to buy things. Let’s get that out of the way right now. That last post was a reflection of where I am at. For the last few years I have been deeply struggling with how to live in this culture, and honor God. And to be honest, I often feel that I am still in the middle of that struggle.

That being said I have come to discover a few things. One is that to try and go against the system while still having to be a part of it means you will always be a hypocrite to some degree. But for me that is no reason to stop trying to invoke and embody the alternative.

I agree with what JJ said. We are totally writing about one thing and yet seemingly acting out the opposite. However, that is not entirely true, as more lies under the surface. In order to tell the stories we are passionate about in a way that is going to get people to listen, well we need a budget. Unlike a traditional movie making we do not have a single source of income footing the bill (such as a production studio). And we are making a conscious effort to be sure that no single source covers more than a fraction of the entire cost of the movie. Part of this is due to the fact that we do not want people to later claim that the film was skewed one way due to where the money came from. But most of it is because we believe in the power of a lot of littles. And as such we are putting in a lot of effort to raise the money we need to tell these important stories.

The reason we are selling the DVD’s, T-Shirts and Buttons is because we want to partner with people in order to make this movie, and we want to spread the word about it. These products help us do both. In addition, we are acting out our belief in equality and social justice, all the shirts and buttons are sweatshop free (the buttons are actually hand made across the street, by a girl who is raising money to go teach English in Vietnam).

I guess in closing I would just like to say that we are all working within a very broken system. And we are not perfect, nor do we claim to be. Just like many of you out there I am personally trying to figure out what I believe. I personally have decided to try and cut my consumption, and where I do consume I try to do so in ways the reflect my beliefs. I mean we all have to consume in order to survive, but we can sure go about that consumption in better ways. Also we would like to make it clear, in case it isn’t already, that we are in no way trying to make a killing off of the stuff we are selling, we are simply trying to get the stories out there. Consumerism is complex, it is a beast and there is no easy answer for it; but none the less, we would still like to search.

Midge: It’s encouraging to hear that you’re working to become less “hermit-like”. And giving more of yourself, living more and more selflessly, what a way to do it! There’s truly something to be said about people who live not for themselves, but for their Maker and for those around them.