Surprise Post

A surprise post arrived yesterday. (Post being a piece of mail in this case, and not a piece of interweb writing). I opened it up to discover two things. First was a copy of Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin’s Three Cups of Tea. Second was a card addressed to me that contained some very specific instructions. I grinned wholeheartedly, and felt great inside. It was not the contents of the post that gave me such a positive feeling, rather it was the intent, action, and caring nature behind it all.

Specifically, my good friend, C, wrote me a very nice card to express that we had not spoken in a while, yet she truly valued our friendship. In order to spur some future communication she suggested an experience that we could share, even though we may not meet up again for a while. She had purchased two copies of the aforementioned book, sent me one and kept the other. Her instructions were for us both to read the book by July 2012, and then meet to discuss. It is certainly my hope that we will finish and meet up before that, but it’s nice to have a generous time-line along with a specific deadline.

I also value my friendship with C and I am completely taken with this surprise concept. I love getting post, I am a big fan of sending cards, and I definitely need to read more. Combine these all with the fact it came from someone so caring and positive and I could not help but feel so incredibly fortunate. Her unexpected act of caring made my day! It made me smile. It made me pick up the phone to call her, and then to call some other old friends I had not spoken with in a while. It also appears as though it got me writing here again.

I look forward to the book, as it is something I have only heard a little bit about, and the topic – building schools through foreign aid – is one I have heard various sentiments on. More importantly I look forward to sharing an experience with someone so intentional and caring.

Perhaps you have done something similar, or would like to try an experience like this? I encourage you to give it a go. I know I will be – don’t forget to check your post box!

January 15, 2012

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King Jr.

The question which was asked some while ago has gone without written response for quite a time. This does not mean it has not been on my mind, and it may well be on yours also. It just has not been written on since 2010. In truth, there has been a serious lack of writing on any and all topics on this blog of late. Perhaps that is a sign. Of what exactly I am not sure. Perhaps I have been off engaged in more pressing and meaningful tasks. There have been many topics that I have wanted to write on, a few even got started, but nothing substantial has been posted in months. Yet, the question still rings, many questions still ring. If there is one thing that has become more apparent in the past year, is that we are not really in search of the right answers, we are in search of the right questions. Thus, there are no doubt many more questions to be asked.

This date in history usually gets me pondering and reading, and I came across one of my favourite quotes, which also contains a question. Thus, King’s question goes above. It is an open ended question – much better than one requiring a yes or no response. I do not doubt we would find ourselves to be good people, and good enough more often, if we asked ourselves this question more often.

King would have been 83 today.

Stories Playlist

By chance I stumbled upon a TED playlist with the title: The Truth About Stories. http://blog.ted.com/2011/08/17/playlist-the-truth-about-stories/

This immediately recalled Thomas King’s Massey Lectures that carry the same title. Having thoroughly enjoyed King’s work, and since the phrase continues to give me a great deal to ponder, I was pulled in to watching the first talk on the playlist. As Elif Shafak’s nearly twenty minutes of speaking unfolded I was pulled deeper and deeper in. I am fortunate to know a few excellent storytellers, and to call them friends. As she speaks I started to make connections to them, their stories, to language, to education, to writing, to travel, and to community. There are a few constructive criticisms if you read the comments about her talk, and while these are valid, they also highlight that her talk gives us something tangible and credible to discuss, even in the counter points. Perhaps that is a sign of good storytelling.

I enjoyed the first so much I continued on to the second by Chimamanda Adichie: The Dangers of a Single Story. I soon made connections to Binyavanga Wainaina’s work, my time in Kenya this summer conversing with people about perception, and to theme of this blog: balance. Perhaps another sign of good storytelling is weaving a tapestry that allows the listener or reader to make numerous personal connections. Both of these first two talks in the playlist certainly did for me, and when they struck at balance I felt like sharing them with you.

The third talk has some interesting ideas and allows Jonathan Harris to share some very interesting projects, but I do not find it as compelling as the first two. I will let you be the final judge.

I encourage you to at least watch the first two – it’s a better way to spend 38 minutes or so than watching some reality TV this evening, and I do not doubt you will make some tangible and personal connections of your own.

Finally, listen and watch for two quotes in particular that strike at balance. They both made me smile, and reaffirmed that storytelling – from all sides – is valuable on a number of levels.

Shafak quotes Chekhov: “The solution to the problem and the correct way of posing the question were two completely separate things.”

Adichie ends with: “When we reject the single story, when we realize there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.”

 

Terry Fox Run – Sunday September 18th

I can say it no better than what is written on the Terry Fox Foundation website:

Many years later, Canadians adopted Terry’s mission of finding a cure for all cancers with an enthusiasm and passion that has done him proud. In keeping with the approach of its founder, The Terry Fox Run (1981 – ) is an innovative and volunteer-led event, all-inclusive, non-competitive, with no corporate sponsorship, incentives or fundraising minimums.

It has become a fall tradition in Canada to gather your friends and family, lace on your shoes, bring our pledge sheets and attend your favourite Terry Fox Run site, where Organizers have no budget for expenses but have unlimited appreciation for your attendance!

The Annual Run in Canada is usually hosted on the second Sunday after Labour Day, the month chosen by Terry to reflect when he had to stop running and when Canadians had to start.

This Sunday is not about a colour, or a bracelet, or sponsors, or a flashy symbol. Perhaps those things have a time and a place, but I hope Sunday is about family, friends, Canada, and moving beyond something that unfortunately touches all of our lives. Continually, the Terry Fox Foundation is a leader in having 85% of funds raised go directly to cancer research.

You can find your closest run site here: http://www.terryfox.org/Run/Find_A_Runsite.html

I look forward to hearing about your run on Sunday.

Eve of Tuesday 2011 (Transitions)

This post is now firmly an annual affair. However, the writing this year has been more challenging as there are a number of posts I have started in the past three weeks, but none have made it to completion. Thus, this post, somewhat unsuccessfully, bears the weight of those, while trying to stay true to the Labour Day theme established in previous years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). The result is the following.

The Tuesday is nearly upon us and transition is in our thoughts and actions. Each Eve of Tuesday post in years past has made some reference to transition (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010), but this year the concept seems to be a particular focus. As you approach tomorrow’s renewal you likely have some thoughts and feelings of transition as well. The academic year, and sport seasons that so many of us follow, reach a point of change on this date or in the approaching weeks. As usual, it is important to take stock of where we have been. I know that so many of you have been on adventures again this summer. Some have left for new homes. Some welcomed new family members. Some went abroad. Some of you volunteered. Some of you set goals around health and fitness. Some of you spent quality time with family and loved ones. Some of you went into the outdoors. Many of us took risks, and experienced new adventures. Congratulations! I am so fortunate to know so many extraordinary people who strike out and engage in adventures and renewal! We shall carry our summer with us into the coming transitions. This includes carrying its victories, defeats, experiences of growth, celebrations, and trials. New jobs, new challenges, new schools, new teams, new relationships, fresh starts – all of these we will face with greater courage because of our summer, the past twelve months, and all the preceding years that have brought us to this point. We face times of transition not with mysterious strength, or merely depending on luck to steer us through unchartered experiences. Instead, we enter with the strength we have built through our past experiences, relationships, and previous transitions.

Perhaps one of the important factors of transition we are getting at here is growth. It is a topic that has been on my mind quite a lot lately. I was fortunate to go on an adventure this summer that allowed me to experience a completely new type of interconnected growth. In working with teaching colleagues from Canada and Kenya to further professional development, I experienced personal, social, emotional and professional growth. At the same time I witnessed, and was a part of other people’s growth in all of these areas, as well as the growth of community. However, I believe the effectiveness of this growth would not be fully realized if I was not able to capitalize on some transition time between that adventure, and beginning a new adventure tomorrow. The reflections, conversations, recuperation, and questions of that transition time have allowed the growth to fully set in. Now, as I transition into tackling the challenges and adventures of the next few weeks and coming year I know that I will call upon the new resources that this growth has provided. (The complete analysis of how growth and transition are interconnected is best left to another time otherwise this Labour Day post would turn into chapters).

For now, let us look towards tomorrow, the coming weeks, the twelve months ahead, and the excitement, nervousness and challenges that we are all no doubt faced with on some level. As usual, the foremost reminder is to be willing to turn to those around you for help. Times of transition are better managed with support. Further than this though, is recognizing what type of support you can give yourself. A few minutes ago I read an email from a travel mate – one who was an integral aspect of some much needed transition time I spent in London a couple of weeks ago. With the Tuesday and all the busy times of the autumn looming, a line in his email clearly reminded me to ask myself “What do I need?” It’s a question we should all be asking ourselves when we face transition, adventure, and challenges. It is not selfish to make sure we take care of ourselves. Often we remind each other “take care of yourself” “watch out for yourself”, but often we do not heed our very own advice – as more than one of you have reminded me recently. Transitions can be a costly event, but if we do not pay the price in taking care of ourselves during the time of transition – emotionally, physically, socially and mentally – then we will pay the price later in exhaustion, stress, or disorganization. The result will be an inability to be at our best, either for ourselves, or those we care about. In other words, at the time of transition, at the time of change, is when one should take the most care to ensure optimal health, and optimal growth.

Have a wonderful Tuesday. Take care of yourself and each other. I look forward to hearing about your coming adventures and experiences – please keep me up to date. I am excited about this year. While it may be sounding cliché, the words are true: we will accomplish a lot this year, together.

As has become the custom, some music will conclude our Labour Day post. Two songs this year. The first, a classic, speaks of courage, as that’s what we need sometimes to take care of ourselves. (The video also, begrudgingly subtly recognizes the Cup champs). Then, even with the holiday ending for many that read here, the second song reminds us to have fun!! (Come’on youz gotz to smile at playing with baby animals, regardless of the safety factor). After all that blah blah blah above, it’s a good take home message for tomorrow and beyond: have fun!

The Tragically Hip and Wezzer take us out then…

Peace and love – a bientôt,
IR

(Possible) Required Reading

A couple of years ago I was encouraged to read Binyavanga Wainaina’s article entitled How to Write About Africa. I would sometimes recall it when people asked me what I was doing this summer, and I would try to reply that I was going to Kenya. Once here, our Education Beyond Borders team engaged in a reading of the same article to lead one of our discussions. We also read one other: JoAnn Van Engen’s The Cost of Short-Term Missions.

Wainaina is an excellent writer and the piece referneced here is engaging, witty, revealing, and most of all, poignant. Engen’s piece may make refernce to missionary work directly, but her thesis applies broadly to any individual or group – regardless of beliefs – that are engaged in volunteering or service away from home.

They appear in this post as (possible) required reading as they strike straight at the subject of balance. They make exceedingly clear that our attempts to balance the world around us, may in fact be attempts to balance our own personal world. Taking a step back, and considering the big picture will hopefully allow us to find a true balance between the personal and the greater world. There is much more that could be said on either or both, but for now at least, I encourage you to read at least one. Neither is very long, and I very much look forward to any comments you would have. They can be shared below, in email, or best of all, in person.

How to Write About Africa

The Cost of Short-Term Missions

Saturday Ingredients

Yesterday unfolded as a fantastic day. It certainly wasn’t sunshine and lollipops, but if I could have bottled the ingredients I’d be sure to take a swig every weekend to help keep things balanced. The day began with some unexpected humility. I was reminded that I am beyond fortunate in so many ways, and that I owe so much to others. At the same time it reset what the priorities in life should be. Spending some time with family in this process crystallized these priorities even more.*

Mid-day was spent with a host of kind and caring people over an incredible home-made meal, and the continuing of a modern tradition among great friends. Laughter and friendship helped to usher in the holiday season. The evening was filled with the excitement and energy of little buddies bombing around. It was capped with being humbled again. For the past little while, there has been a transition from me reading to a little buddy, to having the little buddy read to me. This transition was cemented last night. Laughter and friendship sent me out into the night on my way home.

There was a lot of joy yesterday, and some important reminders that nothing should be taken for granted. I could go for that each and every Saturday.

*(Those waiting to point out the hypocrisy, don’t worry I too see that blogging, social networking, and simply having a computer do not even come close to being on the priority list [nor should they], but I hope you’ll allow me to say that it allows for communication and extending the balance).

Interesting Commitment

An interesting statement went public this evening that conjured up thoughts of balance/imbalance, and a hmmm…

Commitment to every parent in BC: “Within the next five years, every child that leaves grade four will be reading at grade four level, will be writing at grade four level, and will be doing math at grade four level.”

…hmmm… that is all…

Waiting For “Superman”

I recently read the September 20 TIME article about the forthcoming documentary Waiting For “Superman”. The trailer for this film about the United States education system is below. The trailer alone evokes a number of thoughts and emotions, but combine it with the article and the realization there is much more on all sides than the preview and the entire film could possibly show, and I go “hmmm….”

Link to film’s website.

It’s made by Davis Guggenheim, and pretty much all of you know his work. Seems like it’s at least worth having a look at.

Eve of Tuesday 2010

The air changes around the Eve of Tuesday. It’s one of the most noticeable features of this time of year. I was out for a run a few evenings ago and the smell in the air brought on a flood of September memories: dry land training, walking on train tracks, changing leaves, carpooling, and times of nervous excitement were just a few. While it’s most commonly called Labour Day in North America, the Eve of Tuesday, as it’s known around here, is an unfailing circumstance of reflection, and beginnings. It arrives with regularity, but brings with it the opportunity for new adventures, renewal, peculiarities, and risk taking. (Past posts are remarkably similar: 2007, 2008, 2009).

Before looking forward, this holiday Monday also affords us to look back at what we accomplished in the past season, or the past year. Recently, many of you overcame challenges, took to foreign lands, or laid the groundwork for what is about to come. You are to be commended for what you’ve accomplished recently, and deserve the holiday. On a personal note I’d like to thank those who offered me support in the completion of a personal adventure that took place over the past two years exactly. It would not have been half as meaningful without your support, and the balance and fun times outside of the adventure would not have been possible without fantastic friends and family.

For many, this time of year, means fresh starts to be had, and new adventures to begin. However, the next adventure is not always readily at hand, and even if it is, it’s form and features are likely ill defined. A new country, a new job, a new environment, a new relationship, new goals – each of these could be marked as adventures, but their unfolding is not simply a natural, or fated experience. We do not wander aimlessly when we adventure, even when we may appear to be meandering. Rather, our adventures are structured by the choices we make, and we are constantly making choices. We choose what words to use, and what words to listen to. We choose what paths to take, and what turns to avoid. We choose what to focus on, and what to neglect. We choose what risks to take, and what risks to avoid. We choose how to interact with those around us. These choices and so many more define the adventures we are preparing for right now, and they will define the ones that are to come. As well, for those of us that are without a specific adventure on this Eve of Tuesday, our choices in the coming days, weeks and months, will steer us to the next challenge – whether we like it or not. This is where intentionality factors in. Choices made without realizing there are options, or decisions that are unbalanced will only result in flimsy outcomes. This is not to say that we shouldn’t take risks, or sometimes make impulsive decisions. Risks and impulse are necessary to feeling alive, and taking on challenges. I am all for making mistakes, I’m quite good at it. However, risk taking, and even impulses can be intentional. Intentionality begins with personal values, and realizing these guide our choices – whether they be impulsive or carefully pondered. Intentionality continues with being aware that our choices always have consequences. Our choices reflect who we are, and who we want to be. From there our risks, our new opportunities, the relationships we want to strengthen, the challenges we want to take on, anything that Labour Day and beyond will bring will not be aimless – no matter how meandering.

Some might interpret what I am saying as a call to own your experiences, or take charge of your own balance. Perhaps. Looking back, I am content to put out what I have written for your feedback, and for you to rip apart. However, I must admit the thought process above now leads to a particular puzzle that I find coming to mind quite often recently: just how much does our cultural and historical past construct our current values and intentions?

I have no short answer for that question right now. Instead I do find it linking back to the introduction, and September memories. At this time of year we noticeably carry with us the memories of past experiences, past new beginnings. We can smell them in the air. It is somewhat like trying to go home again, but realizing home is not out there, it is in us, and that is why it shapes our values and intentions.

Finally, as usual, be ready to look to others, and have others look to you for support and balance in the days, weeks and months after Labour Day. For many of us, the speed will crank full tilt beginning Tuesday, and we can’t hold on alone. Rather it is the positives we take from our past, and the support from our present that gives us the grip. I look forward to hearing of your adventures, and intentional risk taking.

We’ll let the Arcade Fire take us out this year. You’ll have to go to www.thewildernessdowntown.com, and I suggest downloading and using Google Chrome. If you haven’t done it yet, it’s pretty much a must, as it will change how you view your interactions with media, even if you’re not an Arcade Fire fan. It’s a song and a groundbreaking video about linking to our past, but always moving forward – just like the scents of this long weekend.

“Now our lives are changing fast. Hoping something pure can last.”

Have a great Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!!

Take care,
Peace and love – a bientôt,
IR