Day One Addendum

Although I wrote the entry for "Day ONE," I was reminded by the five who were present that "you don't know what it feels like to lift that many pennies."  So, I invited the Got Cents? team to write some entries.  Eliza posts the following from the work on Monday:

Have you ever heard of cross-training or cross-fit? It’s probably the most intense set of workouts and fitness philosophy I’ve ever tried . . . . until today that is. If you want to get in shape, build muscle, and still have that “do good” glow about you, I’ll tell you the secret: lift 2 tons of pennies every day.*  That’s what we each did today and what we will each do again tomorrow . . . and then again next week! 

*tip – lift from the knees

(While I hesitate to correct Eliza, there were nearly 20 tons of pennies involved, so the five women probably each lifted closer to four tons each.)

Needless to say, we’re exhausted. Almost 20 tons of pennies now rest on the floor of Manual High School here in Denver.  I am impressed – not with our work, but with the fact that those 6,100,000 pennies each have a name.  Each of those pennies once breathed life. Four years ago each of those pennies lived in sub-Saharan Africa.  Today they exist in memory and in dust.

Walking around 6.1 million pennies I thought, “If I were God how would I love all of these people?” While many theological questions/debates swirl around in that wondering moment, I won’t really tackle them here. I will say, however, that meditating on the meaning of those 6.1 million pennies in the context of a loving creator was very humbling. 

I hope that tomorrow the school will fill with participants, all willing to go through the journey of reflection that Aimee and I did this afternoon.  I hope they travel further than we did on a path of compassion and action. I hope that 6.1 million little copper/zinc pieces of metal display the gravity of the crisis as well as the simple ways individuals can help.