Today, I formally began work with the Land Rights team. I share a cubicle with a community organizer and a lawyer. My coworkers organize and advocate on behalf of people who have not been legally recognized for owning their home. When a family does not have a property title, they are set up for exploitation by a number of different political powers. With proper titling, homeowners feel more security to invest in the development and construction of their home, while having the opportunity to use their home as collateral for gaining much needed loans.
Everyone is extremely hardworking at this office. The next two weeks will be spent carefully reading property laws and policy documents surrounding the Honduran property law system. From there, I will begin work on a research investigation within the realm of property law.
I read Steinbecks Grapes of Wrath back in January, and it has to be in my top 5 favorites. This passage resounds with truth, and I think it is fitting for the beginning of my internship that I share it with you.
----Funny how it is. If a man owns a little property, that property is him, it’s part of him, and it’s like him. If he owns property only so he can walk on it and handle it and be sad when it isn’t doing well, and feel fine when the rain falls on it, that property is him, and some way he’s bigger because he owns it. Even if he isn’t successful he’s big with his property. That is so.
But let a man get property he doesn’t see, or can’t take time to get his fingers in, or can’t be there to walk on it—why, then the property is the man. He can’t do what he wants, he can’t think what he wants. The property is the man, stronger than he is. And he is small, not big. Only his possessions are big—and he’s the servant of his property. That is so, too.----
--Steinbeck, pg 37.
The relationship between what we own and who we are is significant. We impress our identity onto tangible objects(e.g. a wedding ring, house), and I think that is ok--if done with sacred rarity. Christ did the same in the Upper Room with the bread and wine.
That, and a host of other reasons, is why I think the work that this Land Rights team is important.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Isn't Grapes of Wrath wonderful?! It is one of my absolute favorites. I love its messages on food and what it means to share sustenance and nourishment, too. That taught me a lot about community, and about the significance of taking Eucharist.
ReplyDelete"The relationship between what we own and who we are is significant. We impress our identity onto tangible objects(e.g. a wedding ring, house), and I think that is ok--if done with sacred rarity. Christ did the same in the Upper Room with the bread and wine.
That, and a host of other reasons, is why I think the work that this Land Rights team is important."
Agree. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experience.
Glad that you're there, Adam. Praying for all of you. :-)
Glad to hear a recommendation for it because I have it checked out from the library right now and I'm hoping to read it soon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it's ok to "impress our identity onto tangible objects," but I'm not sure it even needs to be a rare thing. I think it's perfectly fine for me to impose my identity onto something even as minute as how I order my bookshelf. Of course, this needs to be done with two things in mind: first, that connecting on a very deep level with an object shouldn't impede other actions we take but instead help them, and secondly, that all things in this life are temporary; they won't last forever.
But property is certainly one of those things that is important here in this life. It's a means to greater things, survival for one. And solidifying property rights is a noble cause and a good place to start making society more just.
Blessings. I'm praying for you.
Adam, I love your wonderful reflections and your ability to tie in the deep harbor and waters of Honduras with your journey into the deep waters of life there on HNGR. I think the Steinbeck quote is genius and should be part of your integration paper or ISP:)
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear you were able to spend time with David, Megan and Susanna!
Blessings as you start your new area of Land Rights...looking forward to reading more!
I was just saying to someone the other day how much I loved the Grapes of Wrath. I'm glad you understand :)
ReplyDeleteI echo the above observations that these quotes express well what you are thinking about and experiencing around you! It is really cool to see how your work fits in with the larger picture.
It is actually interesting because I am working with Alaskan Native Villiages who do not have the same land rights as most of the Tribes in the lower 48. They have fewer funding opportunities and yet because many are still subsistance communities, they rely upon the land and their relationship to it to survive.
What can and do land rights mean for communities who are traditionally nomatic and are being forced to leave their homes because of climate change?
Praying for you!
I would agree with David that it's not the rarity that determines whether impressing our identity into objects is okay. Frequency should not be the criteria and maybe not even intensity. I'm not really sure what the criteria should be.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, making physical objects a part of our identity is inevitable. Humans naturally create meaning for themselves and the world, and this ultimately leads to the need for identity to be created from the world around them. In particular, we do this through the creation of status, the means of determining one's place/standing in the world. Steinbeck seems to be drawing that connection between property and status in this part of the quote: "that property is him, and some way he’s bigger because he owns it. Even if he isn’t successful he’s big with his property." One's status is very often defined by what one owns/possesses. I agree with you that this isn't necessarily bad nor something we can really change.
The biggest example of Christ wrapping his identity around material objects is in the incarnation itself. The Word became Flesh. The Word decided to establish Himself in a physical, material human. Because of that, who He is is now a particular, tangible person. In a very similar way, human culture is incarnated into the physical world, and it would be erroneously gnostic to deny that.