How much of our wealth is on others' backs?

It's a sleepy 6:20 in the morning here and I just took Ghost for a walk around the neighborhood. As I walked I was considering Jeremiah's post regarding the upcoming Starving Jesus event next week at Vineyard Central.

I wonder how much of our lives in this empire are on the backs of others. Certainly, in my gut, I think a lot of it must be. Overnight I used plastic bottles to feed Uly. Where did the oil come from that made those bottles and who were the workers that mined it? How did that bottle get so cheap? The formula he ate and the Wheaties that I ate and the yogurt that went on top - what's the true cost of all this? Sure, it costs me $1.99 for a quart of that yogurt, but what happened between the cow and whatever it ate and my cereal?

I heard, recently, on NPR that the corn it takes to make 20 gallons of gas could feed a person for an entire year. That's a lot of food turned into a little convenience. Becky and I spoke about how much more we appreciate the volume of energy we are expending in a car through our travels on bike.

We know how much effort it is to push just our body, our bike and a small load of cargo a few miles. It's real work. How much more so do these cars expend when they can move five people and a full trunk with ease?

We always seem to assume the worst
As I walked this morning my eyes were drawn like moths to windows with lights on. I didn't see anyone or do a any peeping tom routines, I just looked. This made me think of when I was in sixth grade, waiting for the school bus on the corner of Coronado and Zula. There was a house on that corner there with a family and young kids (younger than sixth grade). I remember that it was raining and the mom let me and this kid named Mike Smith stand on her porch. I think we were invited. Anyway, one day it was raining and we sheltered on her porch and their picture window had the drapes drawn and on of her kids was watching a cartoon. Mike and I watched through the window and laughed at whatever was going on in the toon. The mom stormed out and angrily chastized us for looking in her window and, well, I don't know what she thought, but I felt really bad for something I shouldn't have felt bad about.

I meditated, as I walked today what assuming the best and assuming the worst gets me in life.

I'm riding my bicycle every day now. I'd like to walk Ghost as much, too. The only thing anything ever gets easy is if you do it every day - dog walking, exercise, health food - even drug abuse is a lot of work until it becomes the daily grind. Habits...

- Steve