Contemplation,
If you watch the news, you could be discouraged. I noticed something about the news, which I am sure I already knew. I don’t have to read an article to be provoked. I just have to see a headline and I find myself emoting. The other day the death of child had me weeping at work. Yesterday… I was on the verge of tears and called I.T. to turn the news-bot off the startup browser page. (Changing settings is limited to I.T., not evidence of incompetence, though John does have some of that, too.) If you are bothered by the news, it’s because you care. You care, but are so far removed you can’t act. You are provoked because you are high in truth, justice, and just basic human decency. Let’s talk!
Okay, I will talk, you read. Then you can leave a comment, then we’re talking. You are not so far removed from the world that you can’t go out there today and be you!
We the people. The people of the world. We are good. We sit by the bedside of our sick, our elderly. We encourage our loved ones, the people we work with. Smiling helps. Bringing coffee to the receptionist makes her day. We do acts of small kindnesses daily. Make the front desk person happy, because they are the face that greets the world. There is no better position, or more important position than those who greet the world.
And clean the lavatories and all our spaces. Hats off to those people! It takes more courage to be these persons than any other station hidden in the backs of the office, or in the ivory towers.
When the world calls, we the people step up. Most people in the world step up! That is been demonstrated over and over and over. People will show up in mass for what is right.
Not one of us teaches our kids, the would is fearful and dishonest, and you do whatever it is you have to do to be more clever, “lie, cheat, and steal,” and just get ahead. We don’t do that. We teach being honest is important. We teach strength, because standing up for others is important. Being helpful is important. Not hurting others to get yours is important, partly because- just exactly what is on the surface of that!, but also because every person we hurt stays with us forever. Accident or on purpose, that stays with us forever. Over time, that becomes an accumulative burden that can drive people insane.
Or drive us towards better, more consistent ways to be kind.
Sometimes, just being honest and kind is the most rational exercise because being infinitely smart, remembering all the lies is impossible, and being infinitely strong- never vulnerable- equally impossible! There are times to be strong. There are times to let our guards down. If you never allowed someone else to be vulnerable, and safe at the same time, it’s harder to feel safe when you have to let your own guard down.
Most parents would sacrifice for their kids. Most parents, seeing a kid in danger, would help children not even related. Strangers have been known to run out onto thin ice to save even a dog.
Even dogs have been known to save strangers.
There is good news out there. There’s an app for news like this. My colleague at work suggested it to me yesterday. She showed me this owner less dog that has taken to school cross walk duty, walking the kids across the street daily. It was a Labrador. I couldn’t find that dog in a general search, but I found this:
I wonder if that dog got adopted? What does the dog do when kids don’t go to school?
There is mostly good in the world, and the news will convince you otherwise. There are lies in the world, too. But mostly, good. The good news app exists. It costs like 3 dollars a month. I am not going to get it because of that. Funny, bad news is free. Good news costs.
Good news is free when it comes from us.
What do you extend to the world?
I have struggled to become. I am in a great place, now, so I am not lamenting that bastard of a person I was. He was really never a bastard. He was just human. Speaking a truth is not just reporting facts accurately, but being congruent with who you really are when conversing with others. I so wanted to be someone else that I would put my interests aside, and walk other paths. Sometimes it’s good to walk another path for a moment, just to see if it takes.
It’s okay if the path diverges. That’s life, too, and if it’s easier to go left than right, well follow the path tailored to you. It can be hard climbing mountains and reasonable to do so. I am not a climber. I liked rappelling down more than going up! I like some of the photos climbers have shared.
So we all struggle, we all fail, but after even all of that, we stay in the game and we keep doing what we do.
I have learned to listen better. Ironic, then, even as I have learned to listen better, I am losing my hearing! Or is it in the loss of hearing that I have had to pay closer attention?
When I say I have been fearful, there is truth in that. There have been times of courage, I suppose. Like one time, a colleague at a hospital was about to be hit by a patient and without thinking I stepped between her and aggression. Technically, that wasn’t courage. I did it without thinking. Could that be evidence of who I really am? Someone who will step up? I got lucky. That guy backed down when he realized I would scrap. I wouldn’t have hit back, but he didn’t know that.
In that moment, he saw courage. We quietly negotiated truth. There was an easier path. A better path.
I find that moment rather humorous. The colleague thanked me later, in a strange but sad way, “No one has ever done that for me before.” It wasn’t a big deal to me, but it was huge for her. I have no clue what that other person got from that encounter. He was suffering and chose not get help that day.
I have taken some hits. Don’t we all? It’s probably not fair to say the world is not safe or the world is hard. Well, yeah. Okay. It can be hell. I am not saying it can’t be bloody awful and you can’t die. You can. You will. Short of death, what else is there to do but get back on the horse?
Did you know horses save lives?
Do you know how many animals saving lives stories there are?
That doesn’t mean you should trust wild animals. You should respect them. You should learn to read them as well as read people! There was a recent story of poachers getting eaten by lions. There’s a mixed bag of irony.
Is respect evidence of bravery? It’s evidence of trust. I think trust is misunderstood. Trust isn’t something you have or don’t have. What you have, or don’t have, is courage. It takes courage to get up and go out into the world and live.
Trust is half courage and half negotiation. I come at you and I tell you who I am. Trust, then, is the act of not knowing how you will respond or what you will reveal, but engaging you anyway. Most the time, most people, will freely give of themselves. All of us negotiate that.
My interests don’t align with most people. I should probably not talk about ghosts or UFOs or science in a speed dating round. But if you ask me what my interests are, well… There you go. I have lots of interest, and science is the broadest thing that covers most.
There are some snakes in the world. I suppose, if you grew up with snakes, you might think there were only snakes. But even snakes beat their kids and say don’t lie to me- so, even snakes like truth enough to ask for it? They may ask you to not tread on them, which is reasonable. And maybe we need to walk gently on the earth, slow down, listen, observe- and be aware; there are times to stand up.
Cause if there is a being, a person, and agency, an entity, showing it’s fangs, well- maybe it’s asking not to be hurt. Maybe it was hurt or is hurt and it’s afraid of more hurt. Sometimes actor may be trying to dominate and you just stand your ground and extend your arms so you look bigger, and in that quiet negotiation, folks with poor intentions usually back off.
In case of a bear- never run!
Remain still; stand your ground but slowly wave your arms. Help the bear recognize you as a human. It may come closer or stand on its hind legs to get a better look or smell. A standing bear is usually curious, not threatening.
Learning to negotiate takes courage. Bears are people, too.
Going out into the world.
Today, I am going back out there. It’s a Friday. I never know what Friday will bring. I never know what any day will bring. Something new in my office everyday.
What are the things in your day? Who are the people who show up? Maybe you just have a rabbit… That’s one of the animal rescuers in the story above. Crazy, right? A rabbit?!
I will likely encounter a bear, a snake, and a mouse. Just people who communicate in different ways.
We are the brave. We are the people that get up daily and go out into the world and we deliver goods to where they need to be. Goods, like food, water. Goods like kindness. An ear. We extend help. We comfort the sick and dying. We listen to people. And if you’re really paying attention, you will hear who people really are. Courageous comes to mind, because even if you hear some grumbling and some complaints- they still got up, they came to be where they are, work, the store, the world… They showed up.
And here you are, closing out a John essay. How brave was that?
Have a great day. Go shine!
Aren’t you glad the sun showed up today?
