This December, branches all over the Johnson County Library system are reading "The Serviceberry" by Robin Wall Kimmerer. When I listened to that book on eAudio last year, I was taken in by Kimmerer's narration, her hope and her courage. I'm excited to reread (or possibly relisten) before our December book discussions begin. The Library will have book discussions focused on "The Serviceberry" through December at most of our branches, and there are online options as well.
Hearing Kimmerer's lovely, warm, textured voice made me glad I loaned the eAudio, although there were beautiful lines filled with hope and suggestions that I wanted to highlight and scribble in the margins about. (Yes, in my own personal copy). Kimmerer believes that we can nurture small 'gift economies' even if our broader economy is much slower to change. Without waiting for a vast economical system to collapse, we can already begin to nurture the gift economies around us. Some suggestions she writes about: Let neighbors come and pick the first round of the delicious berries you grew. Give a book to a friend when you're done, rather than on a shelf to be ignored. (I must mention Kimmerer gives a lovely shout-out to libraries for their work exemplifying responsible sharing and maintaining community property. ♥️) Help your neighbor with that task, no compensation implied or expected. Donate and tell everyone about Little Free Libraries. Attend community swaps and find your local buy-nothing group. Find local mutual aid groups... and on and on, with suggestions for every passion and capacity.
There are so many ways to participate in a giving economy and disrupt the current system, creating gaps and edges, as Kimmerer writes. Gaps and edges are where new things come from. In Kimmerer's words, reciprocity is not entitlement to a payment in return but rather a situation where everyone gives what they have plenty of. They give and then think - not "now Darren owes me one" - but "I can be secure in knowing my community will help and support me, just as I give of what will help and support them."
Kimmerer says we now operate in a system where individuals fend for themselves while playing a zero-sum game, accumulating as much as possible. Kimmerer uses older human habits of hunting and gathering as an example of how we previously lived in a reciprocal system with our surroundings, local wildlife, and our communities, previously, and how this was a physically and mentally healthier way of life. While listening to this book, I was also simultaneously reading Harari's "Sapiens," where this same praise of hunter-gatherers can be found. There there is much discussion of the Agricultural Revolution as a 'tragedy' that begat a society much worse off in terms of things like diet quality, and health. Two books at once telling me that humans should go back to a hunter-gatherer way of life? I was already sold, bestie.
Kimmerer also made me think about immediate reciprocity and the thought brings me joy! I'm going to make sure when I pick up some produce from my neighbor's "Fresh and Free!" yard table, I leave a note of thanks, or a handful of flowers, or a few extra cookies from the batch I just made. Kimmerer inspired me to look for more opportunities already present in my life to participate in gift economies. Part of that inspiration came from her writing sincerely that she thinks there's hope - that things will become more generous and more joyful - and we really can add a bit of momentum to that every time we think more about what we're giving than what we're getting.
