Weekend of Sadness

I must admit the weekend was full of sadness. I joined other members of my family in the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk on Saturday in memory of my father. As I walked around Waterfront Park and along the river I thought of my Dad and all the other people who lived with this disease. Most of Sunday was spent watching the memorials and documentaries about the events of September 11th, 2001. It was like re-living the entire experience. The morning of September 11, 2001 I was here at work like so many people that day. It was an eerie experience when all of us began to realize the magnitude of what was happening. Our senior leaders gave us the option of going home to be with our loved ones and most people took advantage of that. That morning felt like the Pearl Harbor of our generation. I know it sounds clichéd but nothing has ever been the same since then. My granddaughter attended the Memory Walk with me and I was with her much of the weekend. When I look at her I am reminded that our hope for the future is with our children and grandchildren. What kind of world will they inherit from us? I hope it is one where people do not lose their past and their memories from the disease pf Alzheimer's and where people of all faiths, countries, and ethnic backgrounds can live together in peace and harmony.

Alzheimer's Memory Walk

Workers love Fridays. It’s the end of the traditional work week for most people. I don’t know anyone who has an easy job. It doesn’t matter if you are making minimal wage at McDonald’s or $100,000 in a corporate position. If you have a job you are earning your money. Since everyone who is fortunate to have a job generally earns every penny of their salary, weekends and time off are highly valued commodities by the average worker. It’s OK to love your weekends and time off. Work is an important part of life but it’s not usually the most important part of life. I personally place a great deal of value on leisure and enjoying the people and things that make me happy.

My granddaughter is coming over this evening to spend the night. We will get up early on Saturday morning and drive downtown to join many other members of my extended family to participate in the annual Alzheimer’s Memory Walk. We do this in memory of my father who passed away in 2009. He had Alzheimer’s. Chloe and I, along with my 81 year old mother, my brothers and sisters, my nieces and nephews, and some in laws, outlaws, boyfiends and girlfriends, will walk around Waterfront Park and think of my Dad and others who have suffered from this disease. If you would like to donate to the cause you can do so at the following link. At the very least you can see a picture of my Mom and Dad if you click on it.

http://walktoendalz2011.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=454687&lis=1&kntae454687=D36683E0178641CE91BDD91CEE33B9B1&supId=0&team=4280566

Change

People have been telling me my entire life that change is good. Most of the time I have pretended to believe them. I’m really not against change but I have suffered through too many changes that have no obvious point. I once told someone that I am not against change, I just prefer stability. I guess that statement would be expected from a person like me who values routine and consistency. However, sometimes I do like change. Today, for example, I have a new work home. I’ve lost track of how many times I have moved and changed my work location. I have been working in the same building for 20 years. It has twelve floors. I have worked on seven of these floors and some of them more than once. Amazingly, I’ve pretty much had the same job the entire time. However, I digress. Moving forces me to de-clutter, clean, and re-organize. Each time I move I try to simplify my stuff and get closer to only keeping the basics and the essential. As one goes through life and work you tend to accumulate a lot of clutter. Do I really need hard copies of a year’s worth of production reports? Do I really need to keep those business related books that I am never going to read? I should probably take the boxes that need to be unpacked and simply throw them in the garbage to see if I miss or need anything in them. My life would be so much simpler if I only kept the essential. I wonder how much that I hauled up here that is really necessary.

Seasons Of Life

I’m loving the current weather in my part of the world. After another brutal summer the cooler temperatures are more than welcome and the breezes blowing in the open windows of my home are quite refreshing. Autumn is my favorite time of the year and it always has been. I feel like I come to life in autumn. This is ironic since autumn is a time of dying. Of course, this time of dying is also a time of harvest. I am already looking forward to taking my granddaughter to Huber’s Orchard to wander through the pumpkin fields. I also feel a sense of oneness with autumn. It is easy for me to see my life as a reflection of the seasons. As a sixty year old I feel like I am in the autumn of my life. Don’t misunderstand me or think that I am obsessed with death. I love life and I don’t feel like I am dying even though the poet/songwriter Bob Dylan sings, “Those not busy being born are busy dying.” Autumn is a time when the fullness and lushness of summer recedes in preparation for the coming winter months. In terms of my life autumn is more a season of harvest. After many years of living and the passing of many seasons I believe I am closer than ever to being able to look in the mirror and see the person I really am and not just a reflection of who I think I am or who I want to be. The harvest is good and I like who I see in the mirror. In the time of harvest we reap our true self from the seeds of false selves and illusions planted in the spring of our lives. What is the season of your life?

Living With Uncertainty And Mystery

One of the monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani once said that “almost nothing is any of my business.” This monk was not advocating living in ignorant bliss. I believe it is not important, or even necessary, to know everything. I also agree with the good brother that "almost nothing is any of my business." Ignorance, however, can sometimes be a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. I don’t need to know everything that is going on with every other person in my life. I don’t need to know all the office or family gossip. At the same time I do want to know about the things that are true and important. I want to know about things that affect me. Sometimes we want to know everything because we feel it is absolutely necessary to live our lives our lives with absolute certitude and to minimize doubt. We feel like we not only want to know everything, we need to know everything. Sometimes that might be nice but then too much knowledge can be a bad thing. For example, I really don’t want to know the date I am going to die. Now this may be an extreme example but I prefer to live with the unknown and the mystery. I like living with some doubt and uncertainty. I like to know that each day is an open book full of possibilities. So, while it might be true that most things are none of my business, I also believe that even the things that are my business don’t need to be laid out in front of me in perfect order and with complete certitude. Give me a little mystery so life can be full of surprises.

Work

Since we are starting the long Labor Day weekend let me attempt a few words about work. For most people work is work. Give them a winning lottery ticket and the first thing they do is quit their jobs. Someone once said, “If you love what you do you will never work another day in your life.” Let’s be honest. Most people don’t love what they do. In spite of that most also don’t hate what they do. For most people work is a fairly enjoyable but mandatory experience. We all have to pay the bills and put food on the table. Work at its best is a creative, intellectual, or physical activity that gives a person a sense of worth and usually meets a practical need that has a point. At its worse work is a meaningless activity that bores the mind, kills the spirit, and has no obvious point. This is usually what some people call busy work. Whatever you do, and however you feel about it, we can all find encouragement in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “Even if you are a street sweeper, then be the best street sweeper you can be.” Some of the work I do is mundane. Some is boring. Sometimes I think it has no point. However, I try to still have the mindset of Martin Luther King and when I do that well I find opportunities within the mundane to touch people’s live in a positive and uplifting way. Like most things in life it’s not so much what you do as how you do it.

Living Intentionally

The Greek philosopher Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. I agree with him. Whether you are young or old I believe it is essential to routinely reflect on the quality of your life. I am not talking about taking an inventory of how much stuff you have or how much money is in your 401K. I am talking about your spiritual, emotional, and psychological well-being. I am talking about whether you are happy and content with your life, I am talking about evaluating the quality of your relationships with family and friends, I am talking about if there are people you love and who love you, I am talking about whether or not you have a moral consciousness that forms a set of guidelines for the way you live your life, and I am talking about whether or not you have a spiritual awareness of the deeper realities of life. Contemplative living supports the examined life. A contemplative person is someone who is awake. Some of you are thinking, “Well, I wake up every morning and go to work”. Yes, your body may wake up and your mind may drag it in to the office everyday but in reality many of us live our entire lives asleep. We are zombies simply going through the motions. The examined life, the contemplative life, is a life of awareness and wakefulness where life is lived intentionally and not accidentally.