I've been quieter than usual since we got home from Greece just over three weeks ago. Resting and thinking and reading. A couple of lunches with friends, a simple activity at church. I'm not sick, though. Just quiet.
These things take time:
1. Being fully home in body, mind and spirit, after being fully away for six weeks.
2. Sleeping and awakening at times appropriate for the Pacific Northwest rather than southeastern Europe.
3. Becoming accustomed to my older body's response to increased humidity and decreased heat, and taking walks on hills, and driving in traffic.
4. Deciding what I will do with my time and energy when the Oinofyta refugee camp closes and I'm not going to Greece every three or four months. Not just my time and energy, but the passion and involvement that keeps me out of my own head and fully engaged in something bigger than me. Or whether I'll go back to my "normal" life and activities - and if I do, whether that will be "enough".
5. Considering how I want to participate in civic affairs in the current political and social climate. That would be both outside my home and online. I can decide to remain silent and not read the verbal wrangling and name-calling and feel the hostility. Or I can decide to participate, my message being "if we're respectful to each other, we'll be more inclined to be heard and to listen." And then being respectful to everyone, and listening.
6. Pondering whether, as a mediator, I have an ethical responsibility to participate in our current cultural challenges. I think that might be the case.
7. Figuring out how to discern whether what I'm reading and hearing is true.
I am blogging a little less often these days. That's because I want to be aware of the threads of thought in my mind and see if I can find a commonality among them. I find that's usually the case, and once the theme becomes clear I want to write about it. In the case of this blog, it's about transitions.
These things take time.
Cookie Fun
3 hours ago
7 comments:
That "being respectful to everyone and listening" isn't always as easy as it sounds when one feels passionately about what is going on in our country. I do try, though.
I have been "quiet" too, this week, but only on line. My mind is constantly too full. Sorting out does take time.
Debate is all about being respectful and listening then formulating and responding. I WISH we could get to the place of debate on these issues. I appreciate your since until you can decide how to engage.
It's harder for me to be respectful to those who I believe are destroying my country, so I just stay silent or avoid those people. I sure do miss you here at the Farmhouse. It's a fruitful time to enjoy writing after what has been a difficult year. Wishing you lots of good and productive thoughts, Linda. :-)
I love how you write. You are a thinker who takes it steps further to be a doer. Too many are afraid to do the latter. I do step out of my comfort zone at times, but wish I had done more in my younger, healthier years.
I can see how being in Greece is rewarding. There you actually get to make a difference while here, it is easy to be overwhelmed with our lack of ability to make a change except via the voting booth and sadly,that doesn't occur often enough.
I agree with you that it takes some time to deliberate and think through, whether or how you want to engage in the current climate. In my own life I have been challenged with how far I want to go or how much stress I am willing to put up with, and am still mulling what, if anything, I will do.
Some of DH's family as well as (less of) mine, are extremely right wing and although Christian in name, very hostile, argumentative and provocative in all things political. For now, I have chosen to step back when it gets too crazy but I do feel I have to take a moral stance. Good luck to you in how you decide to approach it.
new to your blog; I'm going to have to find your trip posts!
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