going to India (May 23-June 21)

“I have just three things to teach:

simplicity, patience, compassion.” (Ch. 67)

Sounds good to me.  Most of my life passed along without my giving much (if any) consideration to these matters.  My life was constant state of shakened AND stirred, and I pretty much spent my days reacting to one thing or another.  And to be honest, still do a good bit of this “reacting.”  But the good news is, these days I am AWARE that I do this at times.  And that's a good start.

“Do you have the patience to wait

till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving

till the right action arises by itself?” (Ch. 15)

Getting better at this.  When I was a kid, we'd look for crayfish in the creek.  You'd find a nice big rock, slowly lift it up, but no matter how slowly you lifted, the mud would still swirl.  And so you had to stand there quietly, wait for the mud swirls to settle, and see if a crayfish lurked within.  Funny – I don't normally think of childhood, at least mine, as an opportunity to practice patience.  Always wanted something NOW.  But there WERE times when I was all about patience - searching for crayfish; sitting in the branches of a tree; playing in the ocean surf.  Maybe these days I'm simply trying to re-learn some of the things I knew as a child.

What else about me?  An English major (B.A. 1983) who went on to pick up an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (1988) and who now works and teaches for an Honors College in Tennessee.  The oldest of five children.  A son to a Mom and a Dad who have both exhibited in their lives a strong sense of social justice and a deep commitment to their faith.  I was raised Catholic, fell away from Catholicism when I was in college, but have come, of late, to admire certain aspects of Catholicism, and to hold in high regard such writers as Thomas Merton, and the work of Dorothy Day and others.  Also, just finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's “Eat, Pray, Love” yesterday (3-6-08) and have developed a new appreciation for “prayer” (not to mention eating & loving).

There are a couple quotes that I try to bring to bear upon my life.

Gandhi: We must be the change we wish to see.

Bono: I can't change the world, but I can change the world in me.

I work with 150 wonderful students, they have me every semester for four years, so I get to know them quite well, and I'm fairly certain I learn more from them than they learn from me.  I have a number of academic “duties,” but the main one is that of Mentor, or as they have taken to calling me, Life Coach.  And such work is very rewarding.

But of late, I have also been pondering doing other work.  A year ago, I was set on going to Africa and working in a refugee camp near the Sudan, helping; doing some writing; maybe some filming.  But those plans changed when my colleague died unexpectedly at the age of 48 in December 2006, and leaving the program just was not an option.  But things have settled down here, and leaving IS an option again.  And there are still refugee camps.  But I've also been pondering working with hospice (I've been a volunteer for a couple years).  And I'm also pondering remaining  where I am at – working with students, helping them find their way through life, giving them opportunities to impact the world.  And if I remain here, then maybe I can use my vacation time in the summer to go volunteer somewhere.  So, yeah.  Just trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.  Knowing that the time to grow up is NOW.