Sunrise in the East

Sunrise — over Maine waters — going into Bar Harbor

Good Evening, God!

This was sunrise this morning. Tomorrow will be too busy for photos . . . or at least blogs . . . as we rise early and leave the ship. We are off for home via Portland, Maine, Chicago, and San Francisco. We are checked in and soon I go to print off our boarding passes.

For the last 20 days or so we have lived as the 1% . . . hm . . I fear that in the world as a whole we ARE the 1%. Scary!

The good news is that we rest upon a vast interconnected web of technology and cooperation. And, that’s the bad news, too. We depend upon cooperation . . . and mutual trust . . . hopefully, even, good will. And they require effort to maintain.

Going from small town to village to small town — I have seen the power of Community. The Power that comes from caring for the group and not just the self. These communities have survived disasters of all kinds — and rebuilt . . . reinvented themselves.

Those are actually two kinds of ability: 1) to endure and hold on 2) to re-evaluate and reinvent. They are difficult to combine . . . or is it coordinate?

The first can be called stubborness . . . or resilience . . . or loyalty.  The second one — the ability to reassess and recreate might be seen as disloyalty or being a quitter . . .

Sigh. While we NEED both abilities — they tend to distrust and disrespect each other.  Like the gifts of the Left Brain and the Right Brain . . . the question is How Well Do They Work Together.

In truth . . . I guess, God, that all Virtues are balanced by an Opposite Virtue. BALANCE is the Key . . . and  the Great Challenge.

And it seems — in the ongoing struggles to Change — what works best is wrapping Change Up in the Cloak of GOING BACK to our ROOTS . . . our TRADITIONS . . . our PAST.  So. God, we are going home. My prayer request is that ALL of ME will respect, each other and cooperate together. With Your Help, Please!