Peggy Echt
Atlanta, Georgia
"According to Judaism, charity is an obligation, not an act of kindness. The word tzedakah has been translated in English as "charity," but its root word comes from the Hebrew word, tzedek or "justice." In Judaism, tzedakah, giving to those in need, is a form of justice."
|
Martin Johnson
San Diego, California
"I am teaching and learning from the generation that will change the world through a revolution of love and activism. It is so exciting to be a small part of that." |
Lyn Jackson
Lubbock, Texas
"I am trying to train my daughter that money isn't everything. It becomes more difficult each year with the constant emphasis on money in TV shows and movies. To limit the reach, I limit the TV."
|
Kristy H.
Tucson, Arizona
"I have been believing that it is the stuff that makes us want it, and therefore makes us unhappy. Maybe that is turned around backwards. Isn't it perhaps our spiritual nature to want things, relationships, opportunities, and situations for our furthering development?"
|
Kate Hennessy
Marshall, Minnesota
"One thing I have decided from here on is to control the amount of "stuff" that comes in and that I spend on, and one way I am doing this related to the holidays is to declare a moratorium on material gifts. If people want to do gifting my wish is that it be in the form of contributions to things like TEVA, ERD, Heifer, etc. I have the catalogs, Web addresses, etc. available to people to make it easy for them and tell them how much I would love chickens or a goat for Christmas, and also am letting them know that this is what I am planning to be giving. So far the response has been good!" |
Jeff Dols
Eagan, Minnesota
"Here is a poem that reflects my new, more balanced attitude about money and possessions: Possessions"
|
Lynn Donham
Decatur, Georgia
"In this experience, which resulted in an amazing recovery for her, we experienced the difficulty of living life in this country without savings, or credit cards, or retirement funds. We lived paycheck to paycheck for a very long time." |
Patricia Mann
Tacoma, Washington
"I am not religious, and I don't need a god or a religion to dictate moral behavior to me. I try always to be tapped into the greater good that enables us all to survive and cooperate in and with this world." |
|
|
Freda Shamma
Cincinnati, Ohio
"From the time my children were young, I encouraged the idea that when we spent money, we spend it in the right way. 'Can we afford to spend $100 on a pair of shoes?' "Yes, but… is that the best use of $100? With that money we could buy shoes for $35, a shirt and pants, and still have a third of it left to give to someone else who needs it more. Which is the best use of the money?'"
|
Patrick Dodson
Monterey, California
"My wife and I each work just enough each week to cover our basic needs. This creates tons of time for our family, friends and neighbors. Working keeps us connected with our community, but we refuse to allow this connection to dominate our time and values." |
Martha Rogers
Austin, Texas
"This Christmas we are asking our family to give us gifts in the form of contributions to organizations that can help reduce global warming, as the news about the speed of the effects of climate change grows more and more alarming."
|
Barbara Donaghy
Minneapolis, Minnesota
"I've raised my 16-year-old twin daughters with strong social justice values, but they are influenced by the media propaganda and are fitting right into the mold that we want to break. I take full responsibility for this…"
|
Jim Masini
Chicago, Illinois
"Fourteen years ago I left an 18-year career in corporate purchasing to take a job as a parish business manager. I did it consciously to get out of the materialism of the corporate culture and to take a first step toward a simpler lifestyle. I took a 50 percent pay cut. Soon afterward, we set up a tithing account and began to accelerate our giving to charitable causes." |
Wendy Hill
Sunriver, Oregon
"We gave him [our son] gifts of the intangible. For example, for his birthday one year (seven or eight years old), we gave him a coupon booklet. Inside the booklet were coupons for non-monetary things such as "one more book at bedtime." He opened it at his party. I was afraid of what the other kids might say, but it was the gift of the day. All the kids looked through each coupon, with remarks like "Wow, you are so lucky." |
Ashley Carraway
Atlanta, Georgia
"Through faith I found a way to genuine and lasting peace, joy, fulfillment, and meaning that has very little to do with amassing things."
|
|
|
Mindy Bartholomae
Chicago, IL
"I admit, I do enjoy nice things and shopping at times. But it's like a drug. I've had to really work on the "need versus want" dilemma when it comes to making purchases."
|
Ginger Watson
Ft. Worth, Texas
"It's funny how my ethics can really bend when it inconveniences me, or costs me something, to do the ethical thing. As a Christian, I am asked to sacrifice for the sake of others. This is much easier when it involves only a bit of time or money. When my daughter's education is at stake, my stand becomes so much more selfish."
|
R. Walter
Bronxville, New York
"One way we have decided to keep money out of the center of our lives is to have my husband quit his job. We live on his consulting income and he sees our children every day, sometimes more than I do (I stopped working six years ago). We felt our lives could have been more "high-powered" (i.e. financially successful) but we valued time more." |
Joel Gingery
St. Petersburg, Florida
"So far the answer for me is to affirm "social justice" for everyone — that is a truly equal opportunity, and realizing that each individual must make that choice. My (and my money's) role is to facilitate developing opportunities for people to be able to make those choices."
|
John Metzler
McLean, Virginia
"I believe with spirituality and religion, that balance can be achieved. I'm doubtful if it can be achieved without religion and spirituality."
|
Shannon Dahmes
Minneapolis, Minnesota
"One of the small things I do is to try to purchase only second hand clothing wherever possible. This simple step not only reduces my negative impact on the environment, it also shifts my focus in terms of consumerism."
|
|
