tree trimmers, snafus, and life

What this is about is all the snafus that occur in our days.... The tree trimmers that I met with 2+ weeks ago to cut some branches that are growing onto my roof (who have just now contacted me to do the job) ... the lawnmower shop that took my lawn mower in June to fix, saying it would take 6 weeks or more, and when I called in August, they said they couldn't repair that type (electric) and I had to go pick it up. ?....and why did they say they could do it in the first place? (??!!) ...and after all that, the mower started right up.

And, boy was I glad! I had been relying on a combination of friend's mower (which I had to go get), pushmower (slippery when wet) and weedeater (back-breaker). I got to where I started pulling the grass out with my hands (!!) ....which was easy because all the rain softened the ground. Now I am happy to say that I have a full lawn of some ground cover other than grass - something like clover. (And no, I didn't pull all that grass out myself.) The "clover" seems to have just taken over and it doesn't need half as much mowing : ) So I'm happy. I guess my persistence (and a little luck or positive ju-ju) paid off.

Now back to snafu-city. What do you do with a friend who misreads how important some mutual plans are to you and backs out, feigning forgetfulness? Well, what I've done, after all the strum and dang (is that right? got to look that up. It's German) is let it go. But still can't help wondering about it. Is all of life a big snafu? Are we all just test cases to see how well we'll do under the influence of snafu-pressure?

The funny thing is that a part of me wants to insist that it be done this way, or that this way is "right." What is that? Virginia Satir said there were more than ....[umpteen] ways to wash dishes. No one right way. Yes, but isn't there such a thing as order? Logic? Integrity? Accountability? Are those concepts too authoritarian to have any use in our lives?

After all is said and done -- and sometimes this takes a long time -- I'll go with love, compassion, forgiveness (of course), and letting go. Though I depend on logic and integrity, I practice compassion and forgiveness - maybe because those don't come as automatic. They have to be "worked at" - to that extent that anything as sublime can really be "worked at." But that's what it takes sometimes - compassion and forgiveness. See where it can take you.

Where were you in the 60's?

Where were you in the 60's?
I apologize for not keeping up with this blog. I don't know how many people might be keeping track of it.... but I got side-tracked trying to put together an art group. But that's another story....

I just saw a PBS documentary about the 60's and it was excellent! I learned a lot of things I didn't know, the most meaningful being that on the eve of the biggest anti-war demonstration to date - with 2 million participating across the country - that Nixon was considering threatening North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia with nuclear weapons in order to end the war, and that because of that demonstration, he decided not to. It would've been the first use of nuclear weapons (I think that's what they said. I guess Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't nuclear.) The pictures especially of the hippies and demonstrations really brought me back to those times. I was only 6 when the decade started and 14 in 1968, but definitely felt part of a movement bigger than all of us. I wish I had been older and had been able to participate more in the demonstrations and concerts (I barely missed out on Woodstock. I was only 16 and didn't have friends old enough to drive there from where I lived in New Jersey).

I was really pleased with the thought put into this documentary. They included balanced coverage from both sides of the political spectrum with interviews from McNamara, Kissinger, and Buchanan as well as Arlo Guthrie, Tom Hayden, Howard Zinn and others whose names I can't remember. It showed the wide scope of the times, including the race riots, the occupation of university offices at Columbia University, the demonstrations at UC-Berkely and Kent State, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. , and described how the political landscape changed over time. (I didn't know what the Pentagon Papers were (!!) Now I do.) It was really clarifying for me. I think the main thing I got from it was that we, the people do have power and if we but believe and act for what we value, then change can happen. And that the more people involved, the more powerful we are.

One of the social activists on the left acknowledged that many who demonstrated against the war did not vote in the election with Nixon and Humphrey, and that it was a mistake. That the election was very close, with Nixon winning by only 1% or something. And that the ones who demonstrated slammed Humphrey and ignored Nixon. I had no idea. I am glad he acknowledged it as a mistake, because it also shows how important a vote can be in tipping the scales.

I know there are lots of others who can do better social commentary than me, but this time, I wanted to take the opportunity to write something about what I learned - which has amazing relevance today. I am proud to be a baby boomer, and proud to be a left-leaning liberal, and ex-hippie (though it really was before my time). I still enjoyed the excitement of the times and the gentle message of the hippie culture (before the excess of drugs) of peace and love.