Once upon a time, I think I had better morals. Different morals, really. In 1992, as I was about to graduate from Loyola University Chicago, I made the decision to join the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I think many college graduates think about service projects as they look to embark on "the real world." Some people consider the Peace Corps, others may go on a Mission with their Church. I choose the JVC for a couple of reasons.
The first had largely to do with the fact that I had just spent four years under the tutelage of the Jesuits, and I was not really ready to leave. I had converted to Catholicism during my Sophomore year, and I felt a strong connection with the Jesuit community.
Another reason I chose the JVC was because I wanted my service to be concentrated around people in need in the United States. I was under the impression that people who wanted to go to Third World Countries joined the Peace Corps. That really wasn't where my interest was focused. I wanted to help people in this country and, at the time, the JVC was a great option to fulfill that need.
JVC's slogan is "ruined for life." People who join the JVC are held to follow four tenets during their time: social justice, simple living, community, and spirituality. Volunteers get to apply to the region of the country they wish to serve: East, Midwest, South, Southwest (I don't know if they had it back then, but now it seems that the JVC organization now also serve International countries like Belize, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Peru, and Tanzania). I chose the Southwest. I had always wanted to live in Arizona, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.
Volunteers also get the "apply" for and interview at agencies that had open positions which they filled each year with volunteers from the JVC. I applied to an open position at a Senior Center in Mesa, and when I had my phone interview, I knew I got the job.
Volunteers are then placed in communities (houses) where they live and work amongst one another, share chores, split bills, and attempt to live simply in or near the neighborhoods they served. I was placed with five women (which quickly became four women when one of our roommates left after Orientation) in an orange grove in East Mesa.
Part of living as a JVC community member meant learning to live on $75 per month. While our rent, utilities, health and car insurance, and food allowance was paid for by our respective companies, the amounts we were given included a $75 a month stipend to be spent as we chose.
1992 was not as technologically advanced as we are today. Not many people carried cell phones, the Internet was something yet to come, and cable TV was mostly seen as a luxury.
Living on $75 a month meant that if we wanted beer, for instance, we looked for Keystone or Natural Light, which we could get a lot of beer for a little money (hey, we were college graduates, beer was important!). If we wanted to eat out, it meant probably only doing it once a month, not daily or weekly like some people are want to do. It meant finding things to do on weekdays or weekends that were free, or cost very little. It meant learning how to budget our time and our money wisely.
My community was good at living simply, especially at first. We vowed to eat only Rice and Beans every Thursday (all day) in appreciation for the people we served. The local paper even wrote an article about us.
I'm thinking about this previous life of mine because I know I don't live like that anymore. While I don't live in a McMansion, while I don't drive expensive cars, while I try not to spend our money foolishly, I cannot say we live simply. I have a cell phone, I have a flat screen TV, I have the Internet, I have a nice dishwasher, washer and dryer (and eventually a nice stove and fridge). My family and I went on a vacation last year for three weeks to Denmark and Italy. I went to the grocery store today and got what we both needed and what I wanted, paying less attention to the price.
I'm not the kind of guy who can live on $75 a month. Granted I've got kids, but I'm not sure I could live that way anymore. Sure, if I had to I could, but that's just it. Thankfully, we don't.
I'm also thinking about simple living because a close friend of mine, a writer as well, lives more simply than I do. He's a family of one, but he hasn't veered from his Peace Corps teaching as much as I have from the JVC. He's an inspiration to many, mostly the students in his high school classroom.
Steve Jordan is not a simple man. He's a man who chooses to live simply: http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=56232@wbbm.dayport.com
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