TEACHERS

For the last three years, I have been on a Spiritual Journey. Big deal, so is everyone. Only this is special because it is my spiritual journey. I battled for a long time whether to inflict it on other people, or simple save it for myself. Stay to the end and you will understand my decision.

Three years ago, I ran across a statement that caught my ear, but at the time meant little more than a nice sounding chant. “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear, not because he has been sent, but because he was always there.” Nothing in this trip to where I am has been straight forward or clear, always it seems accidental and capricious. There has been no connect the dots, yet looking back the dots are clear. Well, this entry is about my latest teacher and why there will be more entries.

Last week we took a bus trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. To be honest, neither of us felt much like going that day. Kay has been really sick for three weeks and being on a bus and boat for much of the day held no special joy for me. But the trip was paid for, it must have seemed like a good idea at some point in the past, so we sucked it up and went. And it was a very enjoyable trip. But by the time we reached Charlie Brown’s Steak House for dinner that night, we were tired, achy, chilled, not hungry and had an energy level that would not have run a toy train.

To make dinner especially enjoyable, we were the last people off the bus so we were the last to enter the dining room. The only table left was occupied by an elderly man who introduced himself in heavily accented Spanish as Raoul. Now, shamefully, my first reaction was, “Oh great. I can’t hear – he can’t talk – maybe I could just plead illness and go sit on the bus.” But quickly, the new improved Gorf .2 took over and my mind supplied, “ This is the only real moment there is, engage it, enjoy it, release the fear and embrace the miracle.” What followed was one of the most entertaining and engaging meals I have shared in many months. Raoul was a retired doctor, who had become an author and an art collector of some note including donations to Cornell Universities Art Department. He had led a fascinating life as researcher, teacher and practitioner. He was delightful, but not my teacher until he turned to me and said, “You should write your story. It doesn’t matter if no one reads it, if it never makes any money. It is about the passion within you that counts.” Since I had never mentioned wanting to write a grocery list, much less a story, this kind of shocked me. That “learnable moment” was happening again.

So dear reader, if you are out there, over the next few months, I plan to share the miracle moments of the last few years. If they help someone else, great. If they do not, it will still give me great joy to write them.

We have only this moment that is real. No amount of quilt or worry or wishing will change a moment in the past. But what we release in this moment, may effect a moment in the future. If I release hate and anger and judgment now, it will return to me in a later moment. If I release love, compassion, understanding and joy in this moment, that also will return to me in a later moment.

I spent the last several walks, writing a great blotg about why Obama was the correct choice for President. I would explain why, despite respect for John McCain, I was disappointed in his performance and his readiness to be President. Then I watched Colin Powell on Meet the Press and what could I possibly add or improve on? So if anyone cares what I think, go see Mr. Powell.
On a much more joyful note, I attended the wedding of a third grade student on Saturday. Not that she is presently a third grader, but at one time we shared 40 weeks in the same place, or more accurately 80 weeks because she was in a class I carried into fourth grade. I was always very fond of her, she was smart, not afraid to back up and look at things from an odd point of view, and apparently, I made an impression on her. She was kind enough to invite us to her wedding. The ceremony was held in the General Clinton Park in Bainbridge and was beautiful. The reception in Sidney, was about 1/4 mile from our old apartment on river road.
On the way to the reception, we swung by the River Road apartment. Several years ago, I broke in (actually the door was open so I just wandered in) and it was being used for storage and had turned it into a dump. the whole thing was kind of heartbreaking. Yesterday, it looked like someone had repainted it and there were curtains on the windows, so perhaps it is seeing happier days.
Today was just a day at the zoo helping out with the little kids. Adorable but cold. Then home to find the Giants had won yeah Eli.

JOE THE PLUMBER

I think Barack Obama made a big mistake last night. When addressing Joe, the plumber, he should have looked directly into the camera and said,” Joe, if you are earning $250,000 a year or more, your best interests are served by voting for John McCain.”

Despite being labeled “Joe the plumber – mister every guy” and wearing T shirts for interviews, anyone earning $250,000 is not the average American. What has consistently amazed me, has been the ability of the Republican party to get people struggling to get by, to work so hard to protect the welfare of the wealthy who always benefit from a Republican victory.

As to the claim Obama wants to redistribute Joe’s wealth downward to the less well off , the McCain policy will also redistribute the wealth -- upward to the Joe plumbers , that are struggling so hard to get by on their $250,000 a year income.

On a very negative note, when Joe was asked about his contact with Obama, he said,” He was as good a tap dancer as Sammy Davis Junior.” Now Joe is pretty young and that might have been completely innocent, but in the 50s or 60’s any reference to being like Sammy Davis Junior was often code for a racist remark. How much of that spills into the voting booth is worrisome.

Celtic Thunder and Sarah Palin

Celtic Thunder opened their North American Tour in Binghamton Friday night. The show started with a flourish with very promising visual effects, strong rhythmic drumming and a powerful opening number. The musicians were excellent, the setting encouraging and the substance – just not up to it.

The vocalists were extremely talented --- and extremely raw. In five or six years each of these artists could be really big stars, but they are not ready yet. They hit all their marks at all the right times, but it was clear they were hitting marks and counting their timing. Nothing was natural, nothing flowed. There were some excellent moments, but some flat ones as well.

And to be honest, the show itself seemed disconnected. When one of the old Celtic Standards is “Puppy Love” you have to scratch your head. And when a series of songs are upbeat and the audience is starting to get involved, why follow with a slow sad ballad?

Thursday night saw Sarah Palin come to our TV. The debate also started with great promise and to some degree delivered. Sarah may also be a big star in five or six years, but her time has not yet come. She hit all her marks, had her timing down, had some very good moments, but also had some “Palin Speak” moments. They sounded good, but on closer examination, were slightly incoherent. I think of the quote attributed to Eisenhower, “Things are more like they are today, than they have ever been before.” Profound but puzzling.

I did think both people enjoyed being there and appreciated and respected the other side. Refreshing. Then Sarah went on the attack Saturday with the “Paling around with terrorists” stuff and she just looked desperate and mean. Too bad.

Original Sin

When I was young I was told that Original Sin was Eve swiping an apple and God getting really angry and throwing Eve and poor Adam out of the house. Now, if God got that pissed off over an apple, imagine if he ever found out about those two cookies I pilfered the night before. No way did I want an up close and personal meeting with God!!

Then, when I aged a bit, I was led to believe the “forbidden fruit” was sex . Since I had spent every day wishing for X ray glasses, this was not a happy discovery. I was screwed, in a very nonphysical sense.

Life passed, stuff happened and I found every core belief I held was stirred, shaken and mashed. I could choose to die in the spirit or live in the spirit. I began to read, to talk to people, to question and to meet God on a different level. He was quite happy to bring miracles into my life. An old proverb of some group says, “When the student is ready a teacher will appear, not because he was sent, but because he was always there.” And in the last three years, at the most incredible times and places, teachers have appeared.

The first thing I came to believe was that Original Sin had nothing to do with fruit or celebration; and everything to do with Judgment. Before, the knowledge of good and evil was present in the world, people wanted for nothing, feared nothing and lived in total peace. Everyone was equal, nothing was “wrong” or “right”. Once Eve decided something was “good”, then by extension, other things were “wrong” and needed “fixing”. Now, fear entered the world and with it anger, because anger is always fear in disguise. If some were “good enough” others must “not be good enough”

Not with anger, but with great sadness, God closed the doors and chucked man into what we now have. And sadly, we brought judgment with us. The most insidious cruel form is when you decide you know what someone else is feeling, or what they “really” mean. To appreciate it in its cruelest form listen to Rush on the radio, or to the church that tells you why certain of “those” people will burn forever.

And I am astounded that the most judgmental people I have ever met are the first to tell you how open minded and nonjudgmental they are.