Nobody has it wired

Becoming and being an adult in the modern world is very complex - We're All Trying to Figure it Out, doggone it!

Some people have it wired or think they have it wired, but really they don't. Some people feel more confident about it but it doesn't mean they have the answer. Some people feel very ignorant but actually have more answers than they think they have.

The best answer for me is to realize that we're all actually in this together, literally. We're all in this society/world together. We're all trying to master the complexities of our world and live in it comfortably.

It's like any craft or endeavor that is complex, like carving a statue, or building a wall, or painting a picture, or running a marathon or writing a poem. Each endeavor has many tiny complexities that are evident only once you get far enough advanced into it to notice or care about all the little things that need to be done. In carving or painting, the turn of a wrist or angle of a finger, or the amount of primary colors in a color palette, the texture of clay being worked or stone being chipped away, all are noticed differently when you are attempting to create something. And that attention is not wasted, it is invested in the process of creating.

Taking one small area of an endeavor and trying to give it energy so you can see and understand the complexities takes courage and commitment and a lot of other skills. Skills to master a craft can be challenging, like not paying attention to a whole bunch of other complexities while you're trying to do this one thing.

That one thing can be as lowly as changing a lightbulb, which admittedly doesn't take a great deal of skill, or it can be as grand as deciding to go to war, which takes countless little mini-conclusions on the part of the decider and his whole population. And in between there are many many many skills we learn to be better at.

And at the heart of them all is still, we're all trying to figure things out, we're all in it together.

God helps us. He can help us. If we let Him in. We can actually make it without God, but it may not feel right. With Him, it can feel right.

In the meantime, we're all trying to figure it out. All of us. Nobody has it wired. Nobody has it all down cold.

I want to bless my friends that aren't comfortable in their journey of figuring things out. I hope and pray that they will come to see that they can live here with us and join us on this strange, marvelous, curious and sometimes painful journey.

Blog reading

"The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn."
-Alvin Toffler

Random blog spotting . . . from a guy on xanga.com
http://www.xanga.com/DanAmaniac/599385815/item.html

Friday, June 22, 2007
Let me introduce you to Nancy.

Recently I have begun working at Barnes and Noble. I've never had a job I enjoy so much. Not that I would want this to be a career, but its a good company to work for if I have to slave for corporate America. At least most of the people I work with are open minded progressive people. It's also nice to be away from Oklahoma. I'm not sure I could survive living in Oklahoma.

Anyways, today was only my second day and I was working cash wrap. One of the ladies working with me was the spry, young 68 year old Nancy. Nancy is one of those older women you just see and want to hug. She's always got a smile on her face. She frantically cleans the register area and takes a fervent interest in repeatedly dusting things. She's just returned from visiting her son in Germany. She does yoga "whenever she can". At 68 there's a bounce in her step, a real, vibrant energy of one who won't be defeated by the world. It's hard for me to have that kind of energy at 22, so it amazes me that this 68 year old woman does so genuinely. It's not this false "I'm going to be nice because I'm at work" happiness. It's a genuine gentle spirit.

She tries to teach me things and works a bit more slowly than me. That's not an insult to her, just a generational difference between someone who was born in the computer age and someone who was not. Nancy strikes up conversations with everyone who passes and often has comments about their reading choices - whatever they may be. She has so much energy its infectious - and not in the obnoxious, overbearing sort of way.

I write this to say, it took only 5 hours today for Nancy to become a new hero. When I'm 68, I sure as hell hope I can be that happy, that genuinely joyful and energetic about myself and the world.

When business slowed Nancy inquired about my background. I explained to her that I was born in Baton Rouge but my dad was in the military and so we've moved around a good bit. I explained that I was a student in Oklahoma studying English with hopes of someday making it in the field of writing (of any kind).

"Really? I was a journalism student and I am a writer," she excitedly replied.

Business picked up again and our conversation was temporarily halted. I figured this to be the end. Just one of those passing conversations that we have on a day to day basis with the different people we encounter. Nancy had made her friendly connection with me and work goes on, just two amiable co-workers with some common ground.

However, after several minutes when business died back down, Nancy surprisingly returned to the subject.

"Yeah, I studied journalism. Don't you ever just feel like you need to just go write?" she asked.
"Ah hum-ma-na what now?" I responded, confused at the energy of this woman.
"Like you just need to sit down and just let it all out?"
This coming from someone in my age range wouldn't have caught me off guard, but for a 68 year old woman to confess her need to just sit down and let it all go through writing was a shocker.
"Yeah, definitely. Its the only way to let it out sometimes," I responded.

"I started to figure out that I had a gift for writing things in a way which was interesting and easy to understand. I could communicate my thoughts very well. I wrote news releases, business plans, all sorts of stuff. Before long I worked my way up to the head of a non-profit organization."
"What non-profit?" I interestedly inquire.
"Oh "(insert state land preservation non-profit that i can't remember the name of here)". I got to be the head of that when I was 60. It was just too much, I got overwhelmed. But while I was doing that we lived in Northern Louisiana and I found this area and started taking pictures. After a while I realized, there's a book in this."

At this point, I'm just astounded. She's 68 years old and still full of vigor and energy and drive to do new and challenging things. She's not old and worn out from the rugged task of facing this world.

"Yeah, so I started taking more pictures and made a book out of it. They actually sell it here. It's still kind of weird to think about it."

Wow. That's just cool.

"I'm not seeing much money off of it obviously since I'm working here," she chuckles.

Not only is she trying new things, its lack of financial return seemingly rolled off her shoulder like nothing. It wasn't about making money, it was about doing something she loved.

The conversation continued and I asked about how she got into journalism and further explained that I wasn't sure if that's what I really wanted to do, but that I really just want to write.

"I don't know what to do. But I just hope it all works out."
"It will," she said confidentally. Does this woman really believe in me though she has known me less than a good night's sleep time?

"Just follow your heart and it will all work out."

Such optimism and wisdom. Her spirit is undeniable. I want to work with Nancy everyday. I want to pick her brain and learn from her grace. I want to be her in 46 years.
-end-

That was from some guy's blog that I read today. I wouldn't mind being Nancy either.