Possession

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.~Andre Gide

Have you ever noticed how many mini storage places there are and how many new ones are being built? Don't people know that if they need to rent a separate space for their possessions, it means they have too much? Is it a disease? Is it a genetic flaw? Is is a societal distinction? Or is it an adaptational quirk of our species that doesn't make evolutionary sense. Purge I say, purge! If you haven't used it in a year, it's probably worthless to you or worse; it's costing you money to keep it locked up, safe from all those who don't have enough.

A Fine Balance

I love quotes. I have them pinned to my bulletin board at work. I write them down as I’m reading a novel, essay, or calendar. I’m a collector. My quotes tend to be about “you can do it” “you create your own reality”, the beauty of nature, spirituality, the interconnectedness of all life forms.

My 20 year old daughter is a collector as well, but her collection looks very different than mine. Her quote collection is made up of pithy comments, satire, cynicism, anti-establishment slogans. I love it when she puts one up on our white board, behind our phone table. She does it inconspicuously, sometimes we don’t notice until after she leaves. I love the shock value that some of her quotes create.

I think my quote collection content has something to do with my profession. I teach life skills and employment skills to people with multiple barriers. I’m all about possibilities, behaviours, thoughts, and feelings, “be the change you want to see in the world”.

My daughter observes, analyzes, and names things. She’s not sure what she wants from life yet. She stands tall and looks on and inward. She’s brave in trying new things. She rages against injustice with a calm visage. She scorns the accumulation of possessions.
She attracts “fuck it’ sentiments like moths to light. She hates clichés.

I would imagine that my daughter thinks my quote collection is a bit hokey and Polly Anna-esque. But I think between the two, they create a fine balance.

Ferry fairies

We were racing to catch the 3:00 sailing. We made it through the gate, waiting in Lane 7, turned off the ignition. Our line started moving so I turned the key and nothing happened. I quickly pulled out the jumper cables and asked the guy in Lane 8 (who wasn't making the 3:00 ferry anyway) if he could give me a boost. He oblidged with no positive results. We watched as the ferry left the terminal.
Very soon, I had a crowd around dispensing advice, one person telling me the battery's plates were flaking so no charge could be transferred, one woman telling me it's the corrosion causing the problem. But one man came forward with solutions. He started to work off the corrosion with a pocket knife, vice grip, paper towels and a wrench. After he worked on it for awhile, we tried to jump start the van again. No luck. Captain Ralph said, " we mariners believe we can get anything working again." He kept at it.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get a new battery on a Sunday afternoon, sitting immobile, at a ferry dock. I asked one of the land crew if he knew where I could buy a battery and he said Lordco in Sidney. Just as he said it, he glanced over to the side and spotted a Lordco car. He ran over and asked the driver if she could help me. She said she just had to deliver a battery to a customer up ahead in the line-up and then she would come take my order. She zipped over and got the vehicle information that she needed and phoned in our order with my VISA number. At this point I'm thinking that maybe we'll catch the 5:00. Our Lordco super hero takes off and says she'll be back in 10 min.

Captain Ralph continues to work on the battery. We try jumping it again, again it fails. The 4:00 ferry is now being loaded and the Captain's lane is moving. He's still trying to start my van. One last effort and the engine turns over. We pull off the cables, quickly shove his tools at him, with many thanks and an exchange of business cards. I continue to keep the revs up as we wait for the new battery to arrive. Our Lordco heroine arrives, I sign for the purchase, grab the battery, uttering thanks all over the place and try to sneak in at the end of the line, without stalling the vehicle. In all the rush, I forgot to tip her.

We made the 4:00 sailing. We changed the battery while crossing the Strait, with the help of 2 fine young BC Ferries crew members.

Today I sent out "thank you" letters in all directions.

Critical Mass

"Maybe we need new stories, new terms and conditions that are relevant to the love of land...We need to reach a hand back through time and a hand forward, stand at the zero point of creation to be certain that we do not create the absence of life, of any species, no matter how inconsequential it might appear to be."
~Linda Hogan
Heart of the Land.

I've been thinking environmentally and it scares me. I read in McLeans about "When the Oil Runs Out" (Feb 13) and I feel impotent. " I take it as a given that we have already overshot earth's long-term carrying capacity for humans-and have drawn down essential resources-to such an extent that some sort of societal collapse is now inevitable," Heinberg. I read books like Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" and I wonder what kind of world my grandchildren will live in.

What can I do? I reduce, reuse, recycle. I try not to use my fossil -fuel burning vehicle when it is unnecessary. We only recently bought a second vehicle (5 drivers in the family) I buy locally. I commune with the trees and worhip the ground I walk on. I practice no-trace camping. It's not enough. I have such a small area of influence. The ripples of my life, my thoughts, my being are small and few. My ability to promote sustainable living is limited. I want to save the world and I can't.

I've spoken of my frustration, my despair, among friends. One such friend, an optimist, responds with this: "It's about critical mass, ("the minimum quantity of fissionable material required in a reactor to produce or maintain a chain reaction"- I looked it up in the dictionary after our discussion just to make sure what I thought he was saying was what he really was saying.). So I guess that's what I'm doing. And that's what you're doing too. Critical mass is what will save us; critical mass and new stories, new terms, and holding hands to the past and the future, together.