Crunch Time

Peepholes

It's snowing and cold today where I live.  These conditions create a stubborn glaze of ice on the cars parked outside. The sounds of frantic scrapping on the windshields ricochet through the neighborhood.

In our haste to get on our way, we tend to clear a peephole through the ice just large enough to see ahead.  Yet, such a strategy is dangerous.  It limits our field of vision and diminishes our capacity for strategic response. It's a quick fix with potentially devastating results.

Today's hyper accelerated, disconnected world can quickly ice our souls.  Yet we tend to navigate through it with only a peephole of vision.  As a result, we steer our way through contemporary life with a limited perspective, a diminished response, and a deflated spirit.  A more expansive sight line is needed to keep our souls thawed and our lives expansive.

Have you ever had a conversation that went far deeper than the words spoken or an experience where you felt you had participated in something sacred–that you had been part of the unbidden activity of a reality much more expansive than yourself?  If so, you are experiencing life beyond the peephole.

One of the more significant resources I found to scrape ice from my soul and broaden my vision is the book "God hides in plain sight: How to see the sacred in a chaotic world" by Dean Nelson.  In this colorful, story-driven introduction to sacramental living, Nelson offers human beings a way to see the presence of God amid the chaos and acceleration of every day life.

An expansive life beyond the peephole.  That's the way to go!

The maurader

Maybe you’ve heard this one...

There was a treasure ship on its way back to port, ladened with gold, silver, and precious gems.  About halfway there, it was approached by a pirate ship, skull and crossbones waving in the breeze, intent on seizing its valuable treasure.

    "Captain, captain, what do we do?" implored the panicked first mate. 

    "First mate," said the captain calmly, "go to my cabin, open my sea chest, and bring me my red shirt."  The first mate did as he was told.

    Wearing his bright red shirt, the captain exhorted his crew to fight.  So inspiring was he, in fact, that the pirate ship was repelled without casualties. 

    A few days later, the ship was again approached, this time by two pirate sloops! 

    "Captain, captain, what should we do?" asked the first mate again, this time with greater urgency.

    "Bring me my red shirt!" the captain insisted.

    The crew, emboldened by their fearless captain, fought heroically, and managed to defeat both boarding parties, though they took some casualties.  That night, the survivors had a great celebration.  The first mate asked the captain the secret of his bright red shirt.

    "It's simple”, he said, “if I am wounded, the blood does not show, they see no weakness in me and the crew continues to fight without fear."

    A week passed, and they were nearing their home port, when suddenly the lookout cried that ten ships of the enemy's armada were fast approaching.

    "Captain, captain, we're in terrible trouble, what do we do?" the first mate pleaded and looked expectantly at the miracle worker.

    Pale with fear, the captain commanded, "Bring me my brown pants!"

As we sail through contemporary chaos, a looming marauder appears and approaches us at an accelerating pace.  It comes equipped with boarding parties ready to wreak havoc on our lives, plundering our precious safety, happiness, and security (so perceived).

It often can and does render us ineffective, stealing our confidence and emotional resources. 

It’s visceral.

You feel it in your bones.

The quivering of the minute hairs on the back of your neck hearken it’s arrival. The superficial muscles embedded beneath your skin begin to quiver. The skin itself is affected, with sweat easily oozing from its pores. The rush of adrenaline courses through even the smallest capillaries, causing the heart to beat violently, palpitating its reaction against the ribs.

Your breathing becomes frantic. Your mouth becomes dry and your senses crackle with every stimuli.  You can't sleep. Or if you do, you're dreams are uneasy, disconcerting. You are on high alert and on watch.

Fear has arrived...

Unlike scary movies or Halloween haunted houses, this is a fear we can’t control.  Nor do we seek it out.

It invades and debilitates.  We know there is no safe place, really. Not even home.

It’s known as a crunch time moment.  Its accompanying fear invades when you realize your life will never be the same again.

It is ominous as we stare it down and downright mean as we confront its sudden arrival:

• A routine check up with the doctor ends up revealing a devastating diagnosis,

        And so we wear our brown pants

• A lack of clarity or anything approaching unanimity on a host of political issues;

        And so we wear our brown pants

• Years of acquired wealth is precipitously diminished by an unprecedented economic downturn,

        And so we wear our brown pants

A new baby brings the prospect of renewed priorities and deliberate introspection about the future.

        And so we wear our brown pants
       
The list, of course, goes on, and the marauder continues to arrive in never ending waves...

The bittersweet, exhilarating, agonizing angst of change - daddy style

I am father.  I have three children, a son (14), and two daughters (12 &10).  They are growing up way too fast. Way. It's a reality of our perception that time really does "fly". From the overarching umbrella of our swift lifespan to the smaller moments underneath, time flies.

My grandmother passed away last week at the age of 90.  She always referred to the accelerated passage of time. As I age, I too am increasingly aware of that fact.

It's a bittersweet, exhilarating, agonizing angst. Change is inevitable and it takes courage to move through it wisely and with meaning. It requires persistent adaptation. For every wave of goodbye to a one moment is an inevitable hello to another (whether we like it or not).  My grandmother lived from moment to moment in the brief narrative of her life, each passing a bittersweet, exhilarating, agonizing angst - up until her final passage.

From the peculiar perspective of a father I am smack dab in the middle of this bittersweet turmoil. My son started high school this year.  He was home-schooled from sixth to eight grade.  I always joked that I was his junior high buddy then.  My wife could vouched for the often "immature" moments we shared together. Those days are gone...or at least transformed into something uncertain and new.

My daughters still have a bit of time in our home, as they grow up and learn.  But dang it, it's going fast. My youngest always wants a princess kiss, like in the movies, every night before she goes to bed. I'm going to indulge that desire as long as I can, because change happens swiftly and you just never know. I was recently introduced to a song by Steven Curtis Chapman entitled, "Cinderella". He lost his 5 year old  daughter Maria Chapman in a tragic accident in the family’s driveway.

I've included it here along with the lyrics at the bottom. It reminds me of the song "Cat's in the Cradle" (a real "angster" if you have sons) by Harry Chapin. If you're a father and you have young children (particularly daughters), I dare you to listen to it and not be overwhelmed with the angst...

Lyrics::
She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting here wearing
The weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day
And there's still work to do
She's pulling at me
Saying "Dad, I need you

There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She will be gone

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

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Eight Black Swans

About a year ago I read a fascinating book entitled The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In he describes the impact of the improbable in life and our capacity to cope with it.

The term Black Swan comes from the 17th century European assumption that 'All swans are white'. In that context, a black swan was a symbol for something that was impossible or could not exist.  The Black Swan Theory (according to Nassim Nicholas Taleb) refers to high-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare events beyond the realm of normal expectations.

Taleb's purpose in the book is to build robustness to the negative Black Swan events while exploiting the positive ones. 

The August/September 2009 issue of National Geographic's Adventure magazine describes 8 black swan events and how to survive them.  It's an interesting read.

Tsunami

Could the Cascadia subduction zone, a 680-mile fault line running off the West Coast, unleash a 2004-scale tsunami right here at home?

Drought

The American West is drying up fast. And the next megadrought may bring on the Super Dust bowl.

Avalanche

Last year a perfect storm of conditions killed three skiers, the most avalanche fatalities on ski runs in 30 years. Will climate change bring more slides to a ski area near you?

Megafire

For two decades, western wildfires have grown hotter, burned longer—and become ever more unpredictable. As the climate warms, could big blazes turn into a common hiking hazard?

Power Grid

America’s power supply is primed for an end-of-days blackout

Pandemic

Swine flu? Pffft. Epidemiologists are bracing for a far more lethal bug—one that’ll stop global travel in its tracks.

Failed State

There’s a fine line between off the beaten path and out of control. Sometimes you find it.

GPS System

Satellite navigation works best with 24 functioning orbiters. If several were to switch off, thousands of adventurers could go off course.

How respond to these and other inevitable black swans makes all the difference in the world.

Physical vs. Virtual reality

The following is from Adbusters, an organization that calls itself a "global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society." 

I always explore their magazine of the same name as I personally find it provocative and challenging in these in-between times:

Have you noticed the contours of your life changing with every must-have technological innovation and minute spent on the Internet? Have you detected any differences in your once richly textured, wildly spontaneous way of being? Have you begun to suspect that the more interconnected you are, the flatter, duller and more predictable your existence becomes?

A specter is haunting the mind of the industrialized world – the specter of the virtual.
-Metaverse Manifesto, Orange Montagne

At what point did our computers go from being a tool to enhance our lives to a medium through which to live our lives?
-Alan Beck

As the physical world slips away and our culture flattens, the bluish glow of the virtual realm beckons … Suddenly humanity is faced with an existential choice. Will we take the plunge?

It's On

Southwest Airlines launched a new Ad Campaign on June 1st aimed at tough times. At the end of the ad a narrator intones that the airline doesn't fly around tough times. It's on, and they're ready.

It's on for all us... 

It's on every time our minds persist in discouraging thoughts.

It's on every time we think we can go it alone without the comaraderie of those who care.

It's on every time we stubbornly refuse to admit our fear and hide behind a facade of platitudes.

It's on every time we avoid nourishing our souls with silent listening, contemplation, and transcedent faith.

It's on every time our decisions preclude others who are in greater need.

It's on every time we become too enamored with our technology to solve our problems.

It's on every time we rely on massive military might to secure our happiness.

It's on every time we stop taking initiative for the health of our relationships.

It's on every time we live without grace.

This is the time of our lives. It's tough. It's on. Are you ready?