February 25, 2021: Malt Bags and Anarchy -

There are several good news stories this morning, but I want to celebrate the fact that President Biden has decided not to designate Portland as an anarchist jurisdiction any more.

Thank you, sir. It was fun, and even a little bit darkly funny for a while, to be demonized by the demonic. But it got old. Instead, Portland is once more classified as a Great Place for Ramen Joints. 

Okay, Biden had nothing to do with this latter designation. But still, it’s a sign of the return of earthly pleasures that the ramen article is referenced in the same morning news roundup as the declassification article. 

I’ve been pondering, lately, what new things I might do when I can socialize again. This was brought on by yesterday’s decision to volunteer with SOLVE on one of their big Portland cleanup events.

I hadn’t gone out on litter patrol before, and it was nice to get my malt bag (donated by local breweries, natch) (no single-use plastic, here!) and my neon vest and my litter grabber, and fan out over Northwest Portland, and visibly clean up. The rain held off. I got to interact, briefly, with a few strangers who walked past. 

The problem with litter patrol as a fulfilling volunteer gig was precisely the good thing about litter patrol as a gig now – I didn’t socialize in a satisfying way. If my psyche were one that really enjoyed solitary cleanup projects, it would have been a perfect volunteering choice. (If my psyche loved solitary cleanup projects, my attic and basement would be spotless.)

But that’s not me. I did get outside, I did make a visible improvement in my community (however temporary), and I might do it again, because it afforded those satisfactions. But it’s not going to be my main THING, once the possibility of talking to people face to face returns. I’ve got several friends coming up on retirement soon, and as is pretty common, they are pondering what they will do with their newly freed-up time and energy, in order to meet their own psychic needs. I quoted Frederick Buechner to one, because I like his definition of vocation as “the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” Buechner would point us to doing something we love, and to that something being worthy of doing. I suppose that’s obvious from the quote.

I was trying to use the Buechner test on my SOLVE gig. (Another problem with litter patrol is that it affords a lot of time for rumination.) I’d recently had a dispiriting exchange with a friend about a different volunteer effort I’ve done for years, which included the phrase “nothing better to do.” Brought me up short.

The “can’t you find something better to do?” question got me ruminating on worth, which reminded me of a different friend, a systems-thinker, who would have questioned doing litter patrol. He would have seen it as dealing with a symptom, and would have argued that I could better spend my time working on the root cause. How shall we reduce litter itself? If we can raise cigarette taxes, or do something to get rid of cigarette companies entirely (I’m spitballing here, imitating him), then we can improve public health AND reduce litter from cigarette butts!

He’s that sort – we can always do BETTER! I don’t live in fear of him, and in fact I know we desperately need people like him, but I decided not to tell him how I’d spent my morning. He won’t read this, (not the optimal use of his time), so my secret is safe.