Pluses and minuses

I spent a beautiful afternoon outside of Paris today with my 'second mom'. I call her that because she was so present and influential in my life. She was our Portuguese full-time nanny and housekeeper, stayed with us from the time I was 5 to when I was 16. She's like family to us and we've stayed in touch ever since. I'll call her MT here.

Like many Portuguese people back then, MT came to France to find work. That was 36 years ago. She turns 65 in a few days and will retire at the end of the year. She is then moving back to Portugal, where she now owns her own place paid for by living frugally and saving from each paycheck.

MT is an amazing and inspiring woman. She is a secular nun who has devoted her entire life to the service of others. Everyone who's ever met her has been touched by her kindness and compassion. I've known her literally my whole life, yet today I learned things I never knew.

I knew she had never known her father, and that her mother was unable to keep her and had sent her to live with her grand-parents in the Portuguese countryside. They were extremely poor people, who could not put food on the table every day. MT grew up with her grand-father's wooden clog as her only toy. Still, she would always speak of her youth with joy and gratitude.

Today, I learned a whole new side to this story. Apparently her mother sent MT to live with her grand-parents out of fear that her dad might take her (didn't get the whole story there). MT had 2 siblings who were older and apparently not in the same danger. Apparently she did not know the whole story, and grew up thinking her dad was dead and her mom had rejected her but kept her siblings. In school, MT was registered as a 'fatherless' child, a statute not envied in a deeply religious country. She apparently deeply suffered from these things.

As she's telling us this side of the story today we've never heard, she went on to say how for every fear and feeling of inferiority and shame she had growing up, she also had amazing people who went out their way to make her feel valued and special. Her grand-mother, the local priest and others.

The way she netted out this story is that for every minus or gap thrown at her in her life, other pluses and positives came in to restore balance and carry her forward, and this is the source of inspiration for her life of service and devotion to God and humanity.

There are many things to deplore in this world, from big things like atrocities of war and social injustices and the destruction of our planet in the name of greed, to smaller things like every day inconveniences, missed opportunities, financial worries, etc... I think the lesson I learned today was that whatever situations may hit us, it is within us to look for nuggets of hope for the future in each of these.

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the US. Although we should feel gratitude and express thanks every day of the year, today we reflect more directly on that for which we are especially thankful.

As I pay attention to the world around me, I am thankful for the privileged life I lead and for my good fortunes. As I reflect on this past year and search within to find those things for which I am especially thankful beyond core pillars like health, family or financial stability, a few come to mind:

Thankful for unconditional love -- None of us is perfect, especially not me. I am thankful for the people in my life who accept and love me as I am. Am also thankful for all the selfless individuals who devote so much of themselves to improve the lives of others out of love and compassion. Peace and social justice have to start with love.

Thankful for inspiration and commitment -- I have always been somewhat of an idealist, but had gradually become somewhat of a cynic. As I look to the future, I have renewed inspiration to apply my abilities to contribute in more direct ways to improve the world around me, and renewed commitment to draw on this inspiration and follow through with action.

Thankful for comic relief -- Our lives can get heavy at times, and being able to find ways to laugh at ourselves and with each other certainly makes tough situations much easier to get through.

Thankful for music -- I've always found music to be a great way to accentuate or soothe my moods and emotions. Recently I've paid more attention not just to the music but to the lyrics of brilliant songwriters, true poets of their age, who are able through the sharing of their art to inspire the rest of us and help put words to feelings we would not always know how to express ourselves.

Thankful for the rain -- Our Irish friends may not appreciate this one as much :-) In Central Texas, where we've been in an extended drought, the rain we've experienced lately has been a blessing. There is something so cleansing, so unifying, about just standing or walking in the rain. Try it, you'll be surprised.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

"Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way" — Native American Prayer

Dealing with loss

We all get to deal with loss at different points in our lives, and each instance probably affects us differently. Last week our 11 year old attended a funeral for one of her classmate's mom who wasn't even 40. One of my team members at work also just buried her mother this past week. Over this past year people close to us have lost parents, grand-parents, a child...

When a loss is so final, lots of questions must abound such as 'did I call them often enough?', 'did they know how much I cared about them?', 'what was the last thing I said to them?'...

Then there is the fear or anticipation of loss. We met a woman last night whose only son is about to be deployed to Afghanistan. She naturally fears for his safety, wondering if she'll get to see him again. Some of our friends work in law enforcement and place themselves in harm's way every day, making their spouses wonder if one day they'll get that dreaded call. As our parents and grand-parents age, we come to terms with the idea that they are not immortal and that one day they will be gone.

I guess the question I'm asking myself is whether the people I love have heard it enough from me. If they disappear abruptly from my life tomorrow, will I feel like they knew how much they meant to me? Will I wish I had done more, said more, shown more while I had the chance... I know I would.

Some people are gone and it's too late. For those who aren't, I'm committed to making sure they know how I feel about them, how thankful I am for them. That's my Thanksgiving pledge.

Footprints

Ran into this quote today. Made me reflect on the fact that this is how we grow as individuals, through the experiences we have with others. Most are fleeting and not meaningful. A few, like our parents, our siblings, our romantic partners and our closest friends, make impressions upon us that change us forever.

“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.” Anonymous

Beautifully said...

Amazing 350 day!

Some things in life just seem to replenish our internal reserves of hope and inspiration. What the world witnessed yesterday is one of those. That a handful of young people a couple of years ago can start with an idea, and see it culminate in coordinated actions across almost 200 countries by people united behind a common ideal. To relive some of these moments, visit 350.org, it's definitely worth it.

As I wrote about in previous post, we headed up to the Hill Country and went ziplining and climbing across the 500 year old Cypress Forest. It was fantastic! One more piece to the beautiful mosaic of all the 350 events that took place worldwide yesterday.

Oct 24th - International Day of Climate Action

Today is likely to go down as the single largest coordinated social action in the world. Until the next one.

Because the message is clear: The people on this earth who are demanding meaningful action to reverse the catastrophic path we are on as a human race far outnumber those who either don't care or don't want to.

Corporations can't be counted on. Those who see business opportunity in solving the problem will support change, those who see business risk will oppose it. Psychotic.

Governments need to step up. Self-regulation and the like has not worked and will never work for the reasons just cited. Business will do what business will do. Don't put a gazelle in the lion's den and expect the lion not to eat it.

Let us all put pressure on our elected officials to understand their political future depends on the decisions they make now, and they will be held accountable.

As for today... We'll take part in some of the Tweet actions, then we're going to the Hill Country to do the CYPRESS VALLEY CANOPY CHALLENGE. It is described as follows on their site:

THE CYPRESS VALLEY CANOPY CHALLENGE is for the truly adventurous at heart. After having completed the Cypress Valley Canopy Tour, guests may choose to embark on our Canopy Challenge later that same day or on a return trip. The Canopy Challenge takes guests through a series of longer zip lines, sky bridges, and multiple canopy challenge events ranging from moderately to extremely difficult. The Canopy Challenge requires participants to be in good physical health as participants will be required to use strength, balance, and courage to cross various paths through a grove of trees. Participants choose the path(s) they take to complete the course. Due to physical requirements guests should be atleast 5 feet tall and 10 years old to do The Canopy Challenge. After completing the Canopy Challenge guests will have had both an incredible time in nature and the opportunity to push open some of their own physical and mental limits. Conquering the Cypress Valley Canopy Challenge can help individuals and groups learn to deal with adversity and approach challenging situations at home and at work.

We thought there was some symbolism in there. To be closer to nature will require our best efforts, and will certainly not be easy. Reversing decades of careless abuse of our environment will require our best efforts and will certainly not be easy. But just like we will need to get it done in order to get out of the forest today, so will we as a people if we don't want to leave future generations a world destroyed.

In the entire history of humanity, the past 50 years and the next 50 years are likely to be viewed as one of 2 ways: 1) Humanity almost destroyed itself but stepped back from the brink and did what was needed; or 2) Humanity had the opportunity to save itself but was blinded by greed and indifference...

Happy 350ppm day. What are you doing today?

Blog Action Day

Well, today I'm in Germany on a business trip, jet lagged and just coming off a 14hr work day. Still, there's no way I was going to miss the opportunity to participate in today's global Blog Action Day. And then I'll crash and try to sleep...

Early reports are that participation in today's action is really high, that's great news. Was trying to think of what to write, and since I'm travelling right now I thought I'd do a quick review of some easy-to-implement climate-friendly solutions I've run across in various places.

Eliminate plastic bags
Places like the UK and Ireland have dramatically reduced their use of plastic bags by implementing a very simple measure: charge for them (I believe Ireland was 22 cents a bag). Result: Everybody shops with reusable bags. Just like we tax tobacco and liquor, let's start taxing items that are very directly linked to pollution, while providing an easy alternative, and watch how fast consumer behavior adapts.

Eliminate disposable cup waste
In our Dell office here in Germany, the employee break area offers free coffee from a vending machine. But instead of having a big stack of disposable cups to go with that, there's a cabinet full of promotional mugs people have brought back from trade shows and vendor visits over the years. So the coffee tastes all that much better knowing its container isn't going to end its useful life within minutes. If you drink coffee everyday, get a reusable cup already!

Make it lucrative to turn in recyclables
Unfortunately, many people still don't recycle consistently. Or at times only have access to public bins that don't offer a choice. But in places like California where a surcharge is placed at the point of sale on reusable containers (i.e. cans, bottles), this creates a secondary opportunity for the item to find its way to a recycling center. For example, transients, who otherwise might have to beg on street corners in order to get some money, go around collecting these items and can collect the redemption value by turning these items in.

Quick blog post to mark and take part in Blog Action Day. More to follow soon, including our plans for Oct 24, world climate action day. To learn more go to www.350.org.