"Saint Francis and the Sow" appeared in Mortal Acts, Mortal Words in 1980, just as Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States, and the nation entered what has been called the "decade of greed." Prosperity increased exponentially for a few, while poverty claimed unprecedented numbers of Americans, especially children.

Yet not everyone who could afford to blur the distinction between "want" and "need" did so. A growing number of Americans have reacted to consumerism and the excesses of "me-ism" by practicing voluntary simplicity, refusing or reusing products that deplete the earth's resources, and avoiding practices that contribute to the vast discrepancies between rich and poor in the world economy. By 1995, the Trends Research Institute had cited "simplifying" as one of the nation's leading cultural movements, and Elaine St. James uses that research to encourage her readers not to feel they are alone in their desire...