What a slum can teach us

I'm re-reading the book Shantaram, which had a profound affect on me the first and just as much again this time. My son is older and now we've got another child as well, and I keep thinking about how much we have, how much they have, how much we consume in food, gas, electricity, water, etc. I've showed my son pictures and a video clip of, I believe, the world's largest slum in Bombay (Mumbai). It is being said now that this slum can teach us a lesson in how to live together in a crowded city. Apparently there's very little crime, they recycle all the trash and are, generally, very happy people. Will even mentioned that as we were watching the video - 'they are all smiling and looking like they're having fun'. I certainly think most of us (including our family, of course) could stand to downsize and live on less. I'm even starting to see, now, how that could simplify our lives and make us happier. One - we could live on less of an income and not have to rush around so much. Two, we'd have less space to clean, less things to put away, less bills to pay. Three, we'd spend more time with eachother or outside being creative. Four - and this is my big one, there'd be less frustration when we knew we had something, but couldn't for the life of us find it. Or it broke. It is, however, certainly convienent to have something at hand rather than having to do without or rent it (bicycles, skis, backpacks, sports equipment, sturdy winter clothing, etc). But where do you draw the line?I mean most of the families living in the slum have one change of clothing - or two. Less to clean, less trouble matching clothes, less closet space needed. BUT, what happens when it gets cold, or rainy or you just get tired of wearing the same piece of clothing day in and day out. But back to the slum as a social system that works well. In Shantaram I read about a man that was beating his wife. He was dealt with by his neighbors and elders and family members and it worked. He stopped drinking, he worked hard to gain back the love, trust and acceptance of not only his wife, but his family, neighbors and peers. It was a social justice system and it worked quite well. People genuinely cared for one another and if someone stepped out of line, they weren't labelled a criminal or 'bad guy', but they were made to understand what they did and how it affected the community, and then they were given a punishment appropriate to what they'd done. To finish, my son said something wonderful when I told them that these people had nothing, the children didn't even have any toys. "wow, mom I have hundreds, I could give them some of mine" Awwwww