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UNDERSTANDING IS NOT A PLACE
Friday Mar. 20, 2015
Hello. Goodbye. Times five.
Ten warm handshakes yesterday: three women, two men, four meetings. Two strangers, one colleague, one client, one old acquaintance. Acquaintance, far younger than the others, wise beyond years. Two interviews, one lunch, one dinner. Eight hours. Conversations. Exhilarating. Exploration. Reminiscing. Discussing. Debating. Agreeing. Pondering. And, got some work done …
That space, between stimulus and response, hesitation-space between having feeling and acting upon, speaking upon, responding – intangibles we cannot grab – we held them.
In our mind.
For a few minutes.
For a while …
“Man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or avoid pain, but rather to see a meaning in his life”. – Victor Frankl
Frankl’s man (he meant woman too) neither weak or strong, meekly longing for understanding.
Each time I hear someone’s life chaos stories, wondering how small they must be. Grand-scheme-think. Yet, for that person, their entire world spinning through space at incalculable speed.
We all hurtle …
No way out, no way through, no perspective, no understanding.
Until, then there is.
Understanding is not a place.
In that moment between stimulus and response, hearts touch hearts, strangers become friends, trust grows, just as surely as we trust today to be first day of spring – surely as we stand still, experiencing joy and fine feeling, that space might be dark matter. Might be something else, someone else, somewhere else.
However stopped, stalled of paused we might be – these moments capture all of our being, everything solid, stable and nailed down, racing around our sun, waving four times a year to say ‘new season today’.
Happy spring!
Ten warm handshakes.
Two, warmer than the others.
Mark Kolke
column written/ published from Calgary, AB
morning walk: 0C/32F, cloudy, firm ground (and no muck!) made for a happy dog walk. I am not sure if it felt that different than yesterday. The sun isn’t missing in action – but I missed it this morning. I had debated getting up very early today, to drive out to the Majorville wheel, to see the sun rise as the ancients would have seen it on spring’s first day. Yesterday wore me out … and the cloudy conditions sealed the deal. Gusta seems oblivious, perhaps as we all are, to the subtle shifts of the earth, but her shedding-mode indicates spring is absolutely here!
Reader feedback:
WHY
May there be many, many more. For my own personal sake selfishly and for those many others I have come to know as friends only through their initials, we Thank You for your dedication and commitment to this column. Which makes me ask, can we become friends with people we have never met or even know their full names? I thinks so as I look forward to hearing from them through you and getting to know them as a result of one of your musings inspiring written reaction. I think I shall call you "catalyst". Keep it up, I speak for the collective we and declaring "we need you." GW, Bon Wier, Tx.
I do believe you were just starting to walk and write when we met and became good friends. Is it really 12 years ago ? Mark, I do enjoy reading your reflections and insight to life with all its ups and downs so please continue on your writing journey … I look forward to your Musing every day, CC, Calgary, AB
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