We all get free together

We're not free until we're all free.  We all get free together.

You know how sometimes you see things in your media stream, and the seemingly random juxtaposition suddenly refocuses something and then you see relationships where you didn't before?

Ya.  That.

There's this, and this article about improving education.


We're not free until we're all free.  We all get free together.

Then there was this article followed by a discussion about "identity politics" and a facebook comment from an amazing intelligent young man I really respect about how "identity politics" is going to bring down the Democratic party.  In my experience, all politics is identity politics.  It's just white-identity-politics is called "politics".  The white experience is considered the norm, so anything else is dismissed as "identity politics".

We're not free until we're all free.  We all get free together.

Then I remembered a story about OXO good grips I heard on NPR.  OXO products were designed for people with arthritis, but it turned out that a really good design was better for a lot of people.

We're not free until we're all free.  We all get free together.

Designing a good product, a good system, or a good policy, takes a lot of work.  It takes time and energy.  It's so  tempting to say "good enough", we got the worst of it, dust our hands and call it done.  So tempting.  I get it, we're tired.  I'm tired.

But the extra effort to really make it better for everyone, to make it equitable and not just convenient, not even just equal, but truly equitable, it does make it better for everyone.  Even those who didn't expect to benefit from it do.

We're not free until we're all free.  We all get free, together.

$2, what can it do?

What could you do with two dollars?  Maybe buy a cup of coffee.  Or a donut.  Not both.

This is the bill I didn't loose

At our church this last Sunday, we had a reverse offering.  Each person there was asked to take a $2 bill from the offering basket for each member of their house hold.  We were challenged to see what good we could do in the world with two dollars.

I took three $2 bills, one for me, and one for each of the kids still at home.  I imagined that I'd hand them out to my teens and we'd talk about our favorite charities.  It would be a very intellectual and meaningful conversation.  Maybe we'd decide to match the $2 donations to send to one of them.  Or maybe we'd use the combined $6 to buy some baking supplies and sell sweets at church   Even though it was a small amount, it was fun imagining what we'd do.

However, being me, being us, that's not what happened.  First of all, the teens weren't that much into charity, and while the Hot Dog (now 13 yo) thought a $2 bill was cool, Lego Kid was pretty blase.  Second, I had the bills in the side pocket of my purse, and at some point, while I was unloading groceries, two of the bills fell out of my purse, never to be seen by me again.

Of course they did.  That's my kinda of wiener dog luck.  Or, well, I'm a bit of a klutz.  Whatever.

Now, it's not like the loss of $4 is really a big deal, and it's not even that the loss of two $2 bills is really that upsetting.  After all, I can take my money to a bank and ask for it to be exchanged for $2 bills if I want.  It's just... I had plans for it.  Those. Exact. Bills.

I was sad when I got home, and I told Hot Dog about it.  That kid.  He was awesome.
"But maybe they were found by someone who could really appreciate it"

!!!
Right.
That's exactly right.

Now we got the fun of imagining what happened to those $2 bills.

A homeless person found them and was able to get some hot food from the grocery deli.

A little kid found one and thought it was play  money, until his mom told him it was real, and he could keep it!  He was so excited!!

A squirrel found one, carried it to it's nest to become part of the insulation that will keep it warm all winter.

It got caught in a car, drove away, and fell out, right in front of a little girl who picked it up and give it to her big brother.  He had been sad because his team lost last week, and she was so happy to be able to make him smile.

None of our stories was particularly brilliant, but we had fun imagining what happened to those two bills.  I felt better of the little loss of our bills.  We're so lucky, we know that we'll be able to continue to give to support the work of our church, even with out our $2 bills..  Our church is doing so much good in the community; Faith Family Hospitality, One Family One Village, the Larimer County Mobile Food Bank, becoming a Sanctuary church, these are just some of what we're doing right now.

Now it's your turn.  What would you do with your $2?
Leave your stories in the comments, and if you are moved, make a donation somewhere, maybe even Foothills Unitarian, and tell us what good you hope will come of your donation.