December 31, 2010

It seems fitting to end this tumultuous year by writing about a tumultuous day.

There has been a lot of flu going around so when I developed a wheeze and 1 (and only 1!?!) swollen hand and forearm two days I took steps to increase the amount of non-caffeinated fluids I drink, reduce my sugar and carb intake and increase my time lying down. Of course this is no fun for my personal assistants and means that everyone’s sleep is interrupted.

Well Peter’s increased fatigue level interacted with Helen’s misunderstanding that her desire to not work this evening had NOT been reflected in the schedule meant that 4:30pm arrived with no one confirmed for the shift that started at 5:30pm. A flurry of phone calls and the generousity and flexibility of Mike, Kimberly and Peter and it all worked out.

I started today with the commitment to not be grumpy and several times today the memory of that promise came in handy!

In the end I got today a lot of what I wished for last Saturday. I got to have New Year’s Eve dinner with a personal assistant I love being with, with a family I love being with and to come home to a green Christmas tree made from a rosemary tree that a friend brought me last Tuesday when she learned how much I struggled with the tin can sculpture. Now the home where we had dinner could be accessed only with my ramp, but it wasn’t too steep, and with several burly guys around, felt safe enough. Also, like Cinderella I had to leave early because that was all that Mike and Kimberly could give. In addition my computer would not start this morning but somehow tonight it decided to go on the second try and so I get to come home to blogging and Farmville.

To backtrack, a staff member of the ROM arranged for me and some friends (whom I didn’t really celebrate with at Christmas with because they got flu) to see the Terracotta Warriors exhibit. It was eerie and magnificent – both. I came away with the following impressions:
- I am going to die someday; (a fundamental principle in the Chinese culture of the day was that a well lived life demanded careful preparation for one’s life after death),
- one person can change an entire culture,
- a healthy economy can sustain a lot of waste of resources, and human life and effort,
- the idea that war leads to peace survives massive evidence to the contrary,
- history takes no account of the lived experience of ordinary citizens, and,
- many lasting historic impacts, for better or worse, were made by teenagers,
- the same sort of things have happened everywhere, at one time or another.

In other words it reinforced for me that the world needs a new idea about how to foster and sustain peace and I had better get on with spreading the word about transformation to peace through Inclusion.

So, Happy New Year, and let’s continue to do the work!