And here I
am having promised myself I will post at least something every day – I even
have a reserve of what I call emergency posts – and not a single post for the
week!
I won’t
burden you with the all the gory details but between gale force winds that
delayed our flight out of Cape Town to a car-hire firm that thought I was
kidding when I said I can’t drive a manual gear-shift vehicle with my
reconstructed shoulder yet to the unexpected admission of my wife to hospital
tomorrow morning for an angiogram (we trust that it is just a precaution, but
not nice anyway) to an imminent environmental authorisation hearing that just won’t
go away, etc, etc, etc, I have had about an hour’s sleep a night and the
prospects of more in the foreseeable future don’t look too bright.
All of which
is, of course, entirely irrelevant. There are probably hundreds of people out there facing far worse
challenges who would have posted twice a day given the chance. I never forget the story about the guy who
complained about his new shoes pinching him who realised that he was better off
than the guy with the tatty old shoes who was better off than the guy with no
shoes who was better off than the guy with no legs ….
What the
past couple of “post-less” days have done, is to give me an opportunity (the
first since I took the plunge and went public with the Blog) to reflect on what
it is I want to achieve with the Blog, and whether that is where I am going?
Swimming
Easy in the Deep is about insisting on joy in spite of everything; even
unexpected angiograms. It is about
seeing the lighter side of life more often and more clearly, even (make that
especially) when things get rough (and they will).
This is not
to say that the Blog is intended to be just an amusing bit of distraction. As Tom Robbins said, being light-hearted is
not the same as being light-weight. We
take ourselves way too seriously and seem to think that unless we look earnest
we can’t be taken seriously. I don’t
agree. It may be scary to think that
they are going to inject some sort of dye into Tilla so that they can take
photos of her veins and arteries but that isn’t going to make her look any more
elegant in one of those hospital gowns they make you put on backwards so you
can’t see how ridiculous you look. Or
make her paranoia about the state of her underwear, her heels and her leg-hair
should anyone look while she’s asleep in hospital, any less funny.
When I write
reports or analyses in the course of my day job I always allow for a process of revision by mental osmosis. My deal with my subconscious and the universe
is that I will do the hard work by churning out the best first draft I can
manage. Their part of the bargain is to
come up with a constructive critique.
Perhaps that’s
what is happening to us on a different level. We worked really hard to get the first draft out by organising this week
down to the last detail. Clearly that wasn't how it was supposed to be. All we can do
now is trust the universe to come up with a constructive critique.
Instead of
worrying about how to post something to the Blog every day I have decided to
take a leaf from my own book and to accept without question that evolution
really doesn’t make mistakes. If,
despite my best intentions, circumstances conspire to keep me away from the
Blog for a day or two, then so be it.
Someone asked
me where I wanted the Blog to go. My
first instinct was to come up with an erudite and witty response but nothing
can beat the Sufi tale of the teacher who had become famous and drew crowds
wherever he went:
One day as
he stood before a crowd he asked them: “Do any of you know what I have come to
say?”
When nobody
answered he told them to go away and think about it and left without saying
another word.
The next
time he arrived to speak he again asked: “Do any of you know what I have come
to say?”.
This time
they all answered a resounding “Yes!”
At which
point he said “Well then you don’t need me to repeat myself”, and left.
The crowd
were ready for him the next time and when he asked them “Do any of you know
what I have come to say?”, they answered: “Some of us do and some of us don’t”.
To which he
responded: “In that case those who know can tell those who don’t” and left.
To be
honest, I am just swimming easy in the deep with the Blog. I have no idea of what circles around in the
waters below, no idea of what will happen next and am enjoying every minute of
the suspense. As the gentleman on the
deck of the Titanic said to the waiter: “I
asked for ice, but this is ridiculous”.
Until next
time. Insist on joy in spite of
everything!
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