![Greg Lehman image](lehmanstamp.jpg)
Pole position:
uncluttering down under
By Greg Lehman
93
I
recently began my fourth Austral summer working as a science support crew member
at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. (Our summers here in the Southern Hemisphere
run from October to February.) McMurdo Station is the largest United States
science station in Antarctica and the southernmost navigable point in the world.
We are directly south of New Zealand and 700 miles north of the South Pole.
As a cargo handler, I take care of incoming air shipments and prepare items
for flights to the pole and remote field sites where scientists camp.
The weather in the summertime often is better
than an Indiana winter. The sun is up 24 hours a day and sunscreen is necessary
due to the ozone hole and the reflection of the sun off the snow. Ive
felt wind chills down to minus 119 degrees Fahrenheit and temperatures as high
as 40 degrees, but its a dry cold and does not feel as harsh as it actually
is.
We
watch seals rest like giant slugs on the ice near their breathing holes. The
comical penguins from a rookery just north of us have no enemies on land and
do not waddle away from humans. After the sea ice starts to break up, Minke
whales spout off Hut Point next to town. And no, there are no polar bears up
there.
We are limited to 75 pounds of personal belongings
for the four- to six-month contract at McMurdo quite small when compared
with the things needed in my routine back home. Life is simple here, and reminds
me of my college years. We have dormitories, a cafeteria, lots of social events,
a gym, a library and a population of around 1,000 people. I feel a strong sense
of community at this remote place more than 2,000 miles from the nearest city
across the ocean in New Zealand.
I like being out of the fray of North American
life. At McMurdo, we work 54 hours a week, but life is simpler. Food is ready
at mealtime, we do not fight traffic on the way to work and many good friends
are a two-minute walk away. Sometimes I feel somewhat institutionalized by having
everything provided for me, but Im not so sure humans were designed to
function best with the complex lives most of us develop back home.
In
this secular society, people are curious about Mennonites. I give them the two-minute
lowdown: pacifism, adult baptism, separation of church and state, strong community,
not being worldly while living simply. Living simply? I think Ill leave
that out the next time someone asks.
Modern North American Mennonites have become
more worldly than much of the rest of the world. A travel bug that began with
a three-week trip to Europe during high school and SST in China has taken me
to New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe and Cuba in the past three
years. Everywhere I go, I see people and cultures with far fewer materialist
trappings, but who seem no less happy than we are.
I dont want to romanticize those who
have less than most Americans. At night in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I saw bicycle
taxi drivers sleeping on mats on the sidewalk next to their rides and, in Cuba,
I stood in line to buy bread. Lack of food and shelter are serious problems.
It
is amazing how fast my frame of reference changes. Upon returning from Southeast
Asia in the spring of 1999, I found my dented 1987 Toyota waiting for me. After
encountering people with few possessions in Laos and Cambodia I felt incredibly
wealthy my car let me go anywhere I pleased at any time. By the summer,
I caught myself avoiding acquaintances, as I would be embarrassed to be seen
driving such a junky car. It is all too easy to get caught up in keeping up
with the Joneses or Millers or Yoders.
Eventually, I want to live full time in the
United States without being trapped in a rigid, 9-to-5 schedule. Part of this
lifestyle will involve not consuming so many goods and resources. Americans
only make up five percent of the worlds population yet consume 40 percent
of all energy. The church as a whole does very well in most areas of social
justice, but, like the average American, seems to make only token efforts toward
better stewardship of the earth.
Why make life difficult for ourselves by buying
into the American mainstream materialist culture? What is the right amount of
stuff to fulfill our needs, but yet not complicate, control and bog down our
lives? Why do we not live simply and in close community with each other leaving
more time in our schedules for things like fellowshipping together and helping
those who have need? If we did, I think wed all be a lot happier.
Gregory Lehman 93 graduated from GC with an
art major. He plans to return from Antarctica in February 2001 to begin building
a small house with natural materials.
Return to December Bulletin
contents
The journey of
the magi, and travel journaling, editorial
by Rachel Lapp
Lifelong learning: the long approach home by President
Shirley H. Showalter
A small boat
on a big sea by Mary Lois Detweiler Miller 50
Lessons from Africa by Sally Jo Milne 67 with
Rachel Lapp
On service: Ireland, Indiana, Mali by Jacob Liechty
02
Dear Diary: GC senior reflects
on Dominican donation by Alicia Montoya 01
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