 |
| One year old, and living large! |
Unnecessary Necessity
I have hit my first obstacle. I ran out of eye make-up remover.
I’m serious.
It’s been an eye-opening experience, which triggered a chorus of complaints from the nearly empty and often ignored facial products perching on the glass shelf and tucked neatly into drawers in my bathroom.
When had I developed an appetite for artificial, drugstore artillery?
Why had I given into media’s campaign for real beauty? I barely wear make-up. But, real beauty isn’t about make-up, is it? It’s about day and nighttime lotions, eye creams, pigment lighteners, lip firmers and plumpers, eyelash expanders, and…you get the idea.
I’m going to move on, with make-up caked on my eyes—but hey, if it was good enough for Phyllis Diller, it’s good enough for me!
...
Yohannes and I were on our way to soccer practice this week when the fuel light turned on. We stopped to fill up, and just before giving me access to the pump, the robot in charge of gas dispensing (and apparently marketing) delivered the following message: Would you like to add a car wash? Bronze $7.99, Silver $9.99, or Gold $12.99?
Would I? Have you seen my car…?
Ohh…shit…no…actually…I can’t.
I have become a sucker for a “good deal”, especially one that makes my life easier. There are times—Oh So Many Times—when it feels like I deserve this extra help, at the extra cost.
As I bypassed the car wash option and began to fill up, I noticed a receipt fluttering in the breeze. I tore it from the machine, and IMMEDIATELY checked the bottom to see if it had a car wash code. It did! I came to the natural conclusion that this was divine intervention. (I’m not kidding.) I put the receipt into my pocket and said a prayer of thanks. About halfway through the fill up, I heard the staccato click-click-click of high heels coming across the asphalt. A woman, about my age, appeared in front of me. She was out of breath, as she had just run from the car wash line-up.
“Did you see a receipt here?” She asked me.
My mouth opened and closed as I nodded slowly, trying to figure out how to get the folded receipt out of my pocket without her noticing. Realizing I had been busted, I reached into my pocket and handed it to her.
To my horror, Yohannes watched the whole thing. When I got into the car, he had already put it all together. “Mom, why did you take that woman’s receipt?”
I told him the absolute truth, “I didn’t want it to blow away and create litter; I am going to recycle it.”
“But, did it have a car wash code on it?”
“Yes,” I sheepishly admitted.
“I thought so.”
Does anyone know how many loonies I will need to save to go to the coin-op car wash?
A sparkling good deal!
...
Children in the Canadian Humanitarian (CH) programs come to the education and support centres daily, during the week, for access to a meal, tutoring, social workers, and clubs; but they also come on Saturdays to shower, braid each other’s hair, and do their laundry.
I am impressed with Canadian Humanitarian's dedication to assist disadvantaged children, their families and communities break free from the cycle of poverty. You might wonder what that looks like, or how it is possible. When we were in Ethiopia, Deborah Northcott gave a presentation on the Holistic Child Centered Network (HCCN) Model, that they had developed. This happened on our second day of the expedition, and helped me to see how much work CH has done, over their twelve years in Ethiopia, to understand what children, their caregivers and communities need.
Here is a bit about HCCN, but please click on the link here to find out more.
Two very important components of the [HCCN] model are not written but vital to its success: “The Ethic of Care”, and “Hope”.
Foreign volunteers bring love, knowledge, skills and hope to students as they interact together. As volunteers teach or […] share ideas, they allow students the opportunity to see the world in a different way, and to think about or hear about new ways of being.
The main question that drives program activities and governing principles is: “What will help each child to reach their potential?”
 |
| Laurèn with our sponsored child Mebrat. |
 |
| Faven hanging out with the kids at Gindo. |
Part of my personal journey is to break free from the cycle of abundant living. How little do we need to reach our potential, to be successful, to experience contentment?
In Ethiopia, as a volunteer, I am certain that I learned more from the students, their teachers, and the dedicated CH staff, than they learned from me. The students in the programs are changing their lives and the world, in ways that no one could have anticipated. There is remarkable work going on. But, it is not all beautiful, and it is definitely not easy.
This week, I was listening to Tapestry on CBC radio. The topic, “Living in the Age of Loneliness”, struck a chord with me, as it is directly connected to money. In the developed world, we are losing touch with our nature as social beings. Individuals have become competitive, instead of cooperative; we are cashing in our reliance on each other. The desire for wealth and fame is spreading through our youth and young adults like a parasite. If you pay attention to it, it will shake you off your moorings. George Monbiot, columnist with the Guardian, writes, “Aspiration, which increases with income, ensures that the point of arrival, of sustained satisfaction, retreats before us.” This is not the future that I want for my children, and I already see it.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
― Albert Einstein
“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
— Robin Williams
No comments:
Post a Comment