All that we share

This is an assignment for a class I took this semester called “The Good Society” at the University of Iowa. We read several different books regarding the environment, economy, and society that we live in today. One of the books that we read was called All that we share by Jay Walljasper, which I found very interesting, and I think you all would too….


The commons or “what we share” is a part of all of our lives whether you are aware of it or not. Unfortunately, in many aspects, the idea of the commons has been lost in the community, at the park, in the economy, and in many other places. One of the largest areas of loss is in my own personal life. I am writing this blog post as a healthy reminder to myself of the areas of the commons that I need to make more time for in my own life; and in hopes that my writing will possibly spark some of your own interests as well.

Jay Walljasper published an entire book in 2010 titled, All that we share, a field guide to the commons. After reading the first chapter of this book, I was confused as to how an entire book could be written about a simple topic such as “all that we share.” I quickly came to find out that the commons can be described in countless ways and really is a necessity in the United States society today.

The commons range from the air we breathe, to a public park, to the World Wide Web that we spend hours upon hours of our lives using. Certain elements of the commons are bestowed to us by nature, and others are the product of human creativity. There are many ways to view the commons, and every person has their own areas that are most important to them. Think of the things that you belong to, communities that are important to you, how we live together, the air & the water, holidays, hobbies, and the oceans.

The problem is that so many of these things have gone from “all that we share” to a self-centered “all that I share” and the idea of we has been lost. Along with this, I think that it is easy for people to get tied up in their own lives, their own schedules, and the things they get so distracted with; while losing sight of the natural and beautiful commons that have been given to us, and stand right beneath our noses every day.

This brings me to the lack of the commons in my own personal life. As a very independent person, I tend to lose sight of the many communities that surrounds me, and can get very easily caught up in my own worries. With a very stubborn personality type, I have always also tried conquering any challenges in my life on my own.

In my own life, some of the commons that surround me include my sisters, my parents, my best friends, my sorority, my teachers, classmates, peers, and many, many more.  I would say that I confide in a small amount of people, and trust in even less. But I think that overall, I would actually be in a much happier place if I was more open to becoming closer to the communities around me.

I am always making a continuous, and ongoing effort to seek out different organizations and pleasures outside of my busy, scheduled life. Once declared by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, “We are bigger than our schedules.” This could not be truer for me, and really for many of the people that surround me. Especially at a Big Ten University like Iowa, I feel like many people are just fine with going to class, doing homework, and partying on the weekends. I have also found that many of them are incredibly worn out on this lifestyle after a couple years in school, and that this piece of writing is a good realization for myself and hopefully some of you as well, that there is more to life. There is so much outside of this little world that we live in as college students, even in Iowa City as a community outside of campus life. Even if we took the time every once in awhile to go for a walk, play music, and partake in an intramural sports team, we would probably find ourselves in a much happier state of mind.

We should all keep in mind that security and satisfaction are more easily acquired from friends than from money or any other material thing for that matter. I have come up with a list of 5 things to begin my quest towards applying the commons to my life.

1.     Walk and bike more places and as much as possible. It is so nice to get some fresh air, meet some people along the way, and be helping the environment all at the same time.

2.     Be more of a mentor to the people around me, sharing my ideas, and in hopes of learning as much as I can teach.

3.     Continue the attempts of planning different events

4.     Buy from local, independent businesses whenever possible

5.     Drink more tap water!!!! We all share water but unfortunately there are 40 million people who do not have access to clean water, yet so many of us are still drinking out of plastic bottles.

If you were to create your own list of ways to incorporate the commons in your life, what would it consist of?