Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: hiring labor

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

 "J.C. Armbruster" <jcarmbruster [at] earthlink.net>
is the author of the message below. 
It was posted by Fred the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> 
because the message included HTML ;      PLEASE do not post HTML, see
   http://csf.colorado.edu/cohousing/2001/msg01672.html
I also deleted multiple quoted previous messages and adjusted line
formats.  Fred
--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------

I suggest the concerned party stand aside on this issue.  And I apologize
if my following comments seem insensitive.  I've gone through five years
of cohousing planning, and I feel we dealt with similar issues--after
enough time and discussion was spent on them, and we got down to the
real  issues.
 
Your fellow cohouser is dealing with more than the desire to 
deconstruct classism.  S/he is also, inadvertently, putting pressure on the 
rest of the community to put out a certain kind of service.  Unless, of 
course, he or she is willing, gratis, to take on the monumental task of 
groundskeeping, by himself or herself, for the rest of the community.

But if that were the case, I'd feel uncomfortable with that
situation--unless, of course, they'd be willing to let me give them some
form of monetary (oops--non-monetary) credit for their labors.  : ) 

Not even the Amish can produce all their own necessities.  Nor do they 
wish to.

I can hardly think of any good or service, except for childrearing and
housecleaning, in which I do not rely on someone else's labor to provide
me and my family with.  Shelter, food, clothing, medical services,
transportation, entertainment (except for an occasional Song Circle, where
we rely on others to provide our instruments, snacks, and Rise Up Singing
songbooks)--it all belongs to the Great Chain of Being.  I don't see any
way to break out of that loop.  Nor would I want to. 

I have never yet built my own housing, yet I am willing to live in housing 
others have built.  And I wouldn't be willing to live in a house built with 
my current level of knowledge.  (Can you spell "leaky hovel?")

I have a smallish yard now in comparison to our house size.  Largely
weed-covered last year, it looks much better, since my wife and I
laboriously tilled, seeded, and fertilized it, but not as good as a sodded
yard.  (I admit, I see sodded yards as yet another form of soil farming,
and I avoid that whenever I can.  I might, however, have stood aside on
that issue if my wife had felt lead to have a sodded yard.)  Although I
enjoy weeding, there is absolutely no way I can keep up with the weeds
without either a) using up all my spare time weeding, when it is better
spent with my wife and kids, or b) using Roundup, which a friend expert in
pesticide assures me breaks down quickly, and is the best weed control
available for homeowners at this time.  Perhaps, in time, we will convert
our yard to more of a native plants landscape, and minimize the amount of
(artificial, environmentally suspect) grass yard we have.  This, however,
remains a dream, and not our most important dream. 

How far is your fellow cohouser willing to stretch this issue?  Convert
all the houses to photovoltaics, and give the local power utility time
off?  Install composting toilets, and infinitesimally reduce the workload
of the local sewer district crew?  (I admit, I'm using the "reducto ad
absurdum" argument here, but I feel your friend is pursuing the same line
of thinking--and without considering all the blood, sweat and tears
connected with such purity of heart.) 

I end with a counterquestion:  What's the  real  issue 
here?  Classism?  Or discomfort at being a "boss?"  Or plain old 
skin-flintiness?  Or something else entirely?  What's the real 
issue?  'Cause from my perspective, the weeds are gonna keep growing, and 
holding back for one person's sake just increases the discomfort (and 
dissatisfaction) for their fellow cohousers.


----- Original Message ----- 

From: Casey Morrigan  
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org 
Sent: 10/25/02 8:03:29 PM 
Subject: RE: [C-L]_hiring labor

Well, that is a great question that I don't know the whole answer to. 
Here is a partial answer.  He does not like to pay others to do work
because it reinforces classism and an unequal relationship between the
wage payer and the wage earner.  And that we should as a community be
willing to get our hands dirty and do the manual labor required to make
the place run.  There is more to it but that is my summary.  Uncomfortable
was my euphemism, not his. 

--- J.C. Armbruster
--- jcarmbruster [at] earthlink.net 




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