Clarity, Chaos, and the Path to Maturity
Standing in the Eye of the Spiral: Navigating Life's Twists with GT
WARM UP. Good greetings to all readers near and far. I am glad you have joined me for today's writing. I was late to attend church yesterday, which in turn made for delaying the task of completing the blog. As most weeks go, this week was filled with great opportunities as well as some minor “annoyances,” which are generally viewed by me as opportunities for growth. One of those annoyances this week happened when someone who wanted to play ball decided they would just “take their ball and leave.” It hurt to know this person decided not to communicate their dis-ease with me as I was under the impression we were close enough that they could pick up the phone and call me anytime. Some tend to avoid discussions with me, could be my communication style, could be my directness, could be that they have trouble discussing matters clearly and I have a way of clarifying things. Either way, after about three consecutive calls without a return, I got the point. This is how many moments in life can be, ups and downs, ebb and flow. That’s why this is the eye of the storm! Watch circumstances spin and spin, that is what nature, will naturally do. Watch the moments go around with objectivity, don’t get swept up in the chaos, keep a center. Understand you are the center, it is all happening, happening to you, happening because of you, happening, changing, twisting, turning. This entire circumstance reminded me of a time that I worked at St. Vincent's Home for Children, where ultimately I didn’t complete the 90-day probationary period for full time hire.
STVHC is a care facility for children who are between foster care, adoption, homelessness or even juvenile delinquent facilities. All the reasons that kids are sent there were not completely clear to me, I would like to say that I cared at the time and was told as much, however as I worked there week after week I realized the myriad of reasons weren’t quite clear. I heard a lot of stories of what the kids had been through, what they had put themselves through, and it really was painful to think that many kids don’t ever have a chance to have a safe, secure space to grow up in. In my middle income household we were provided with all the common luxuries any human would need, including basic securities from abuse. These kids at STVHC did not have that luxury at home, and they certainly didn’t have those luxuries at the facility. I recall being shocked that these kids, aged sometimes as young as 5-6 were essentially boarded up in these rooms that had a slit, much like you would see in those movies in solitary. It was crazy for me to be incharge of putting these kids in their cage, doing communal lunches, doing medications, scheduled “free time,” the occasional field trips, to then send them into bedtime routines and lock their doors, FROM THE OUTSIDE. I often bury the idealist inside of me, even writing this makes my chest hurt, reminding myself of what many of our children go through, by no choice of their own.
It’s my view that we should be able to protect our children much better than the current status quo. We should be able to feed, cloth, shelter, access to health care, and educate our children without a second thought. Meaning our top priority as Earthlings should be to securely take care of our children in our society, children do not have a choice of who they are born to regardless of your mythological view. They also do not have a choice of who will project bigotry onto them, they are not in control of the society they are born into, how they look or where they are born. Children are our future, this isn’t a novel or profound statement. I would have a much more comfortable time bringing my own children into the world when the world has decided to dedicate itself to something greater than itself, this being the future of our children. It seems that humans as a whole haven’t really matured past a toddlers maturity. Still kicking and screaming, worried about their narrow world view and individual short term pleasures. Recently I read a passage from a book that stated “Maturity is being willing to enjoy one’s own self perception. Maturity is the willingness to stand to shape oneself rather than compulsively lean on others or on a set of ideas.”
COOLDOWN. As for my latest takeaway from the week I will add my own spin on the topic of maturity, “Maturity is learning and practicing communicating clearly.” Communicating takes a special skill of listening as well as speaking clearly your ideas, pertaining to the subject matter at hand, not getting caught into your spiral of thought. See through from the centered eye, so that you can see the humanity in others. See clearly so you can see the earthling in all things. See the Earthling and we may all be able to mature. I leave you all with some encouragement to muster up the courage to begin your quest of communicating better, clearly, more objectively. See your own self perception in your communication, acknowledge it, express it, and understand that all things you encounter are simply complex Earthlings.
Take Care,
G$