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Thuy Vy, Bui Nguyen

Professor Koning
ENGL 113A
Reflection 2
03/23/2014
Living Simple, Caring and Sharing
I want to talk about the politics of living simply, caring and sharing after reading bell
hooks Where We Stand where she talks about the social class and Russell Belks
Sharing , which talk about how different culture share their good and to recieve from others.
After reading bell hook, I realized that, there is more problems between how people
living in different social class sharing and caring for each other. Like bell hook said when it
come comes to money and class they want to protect what they have, to perpetrate and reproduce
it they want more (3), While the poor tried to avoid think about class and race, the rich and
those in the middle class working to shop more, they cannot stop consume, like bell hook
mentioned that consumer culture silence working people and middle classes. They are busy
buying or planning to buy (6). it is very hard for people to live sharing and caring for people,
to be seen as traits of the idealistic weak (Preface). It is very hard for people to give up what
they have to share for other and start a life of living simply. The rich tend to believe that they are
chosen, special, deserving and they dont want to be mistaken as the poor. We live in a society
where the poor have no public voice (7) bell hook said, make me think of how she compare
between the black and white homeless, that no matter how hard black homeless tried with their
talent of art performance they cannot get at much as attention as the white homeless whom sat
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their mumble to them selves or sit silent (4); they were treated differently, even people want to
share or care, the white poor got more than the place, there is races involve in the action.
However, as bell hook said, at the end of the day black and white indigents often pool earning
(4) they sharing things together. I felt touched knowing that the poor tend to understand the poor
so they share and care more than the rich, it is like Marx couscous theory of being aware; when
couscous, you have the responsibility that you cannot unknown.
Also, I had read an articles called LIVING SIMPLY: Simply Living Fair offers ideas for
people seeking harmony with Earth written by Hewitt, Dawn about Eric Brende, who graduated
from Yale and MIT but has live 18 months without the use of technology. Erics book, "Better
Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, also talked about he and his wife living without using
technology and instead of technology, he choose to perform and doing everything using his
hands, legs and head. Once they really need a machine, they think carefully of which machine to
buy. The reason for why they dont want to have technology involve in their live because they do
not want technology to negatively impact our lives by removing exercise, community
interactions, and opportunities for rest Erik said. So by living simply, Erik and his wife have
share their wonderful life without technology interact.





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Works Cited
Hewitt, Dawn. "LIVING SIMPLY: Simply Living Fair Offers Ideas for People Seeking
Harmony with Earth." The Herald - Times, (2010): March 23, 2014
Hooks, bell. WHERE WE STAND: Class Matters New York: Routledge, 2000. March 23,
2014