: turn(ing) the page :

... okay, so Monday's post was only semi-serious, as first thing that morning I'd heard the Keith Richards quote, or Keef Rijaards, as Matt B refers to him.

Wondering, or pondering, now ... what does it look like to turn the page? As an old Bob Seger fan I love that honest and rather raw chronicle of touring ... "Turn the Page" ... more reflective than Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" ... but I digress.

Seger, and I've heard him do this song live, and listened to it hundreds of times, catalogues all these experiences from the road, and ends up asking himself, or reminding himself, to 'turn the page' ... on misunderstandings, expectations, disappointments, disillusionment ... "there I go, turn the page".

Oddly enough, even though it isn't even close to 3 full weeks since I wrapped it up at Lambrick, it feels longer. I haven't put any expectations on myself, or this time, for several reasons, but already, as my head clears, I can see both extremes of what I might be doing this time next year. It really is a 'turn the page' kind of experience.

There's all kinds, and I mean ALL KINDS of hurt around me. Am I seeing it differently now that I am no longer a paid employee of a local church? Tonnes of that hurt is personal, people and families are hurting for a myriad of reasons, some of their own making, some completely beyond their control. Just as much of that hurt is systemic, the economies of the 21st century, the increasing gap between 'rich' and 'poor', you name it. Where do our piddly little efforts actually fit? make a difference? anything?

A local example from the last 2 weeks. Efforts, pretty creative ones at that, to make an initial dent in Victoria's homeless situation have run into full frontal resistance from all quarters. A gamut of people ... advocates for the homeless, local and provincial politicians, economists, social workers, business community ... have attempted to float potential solutions, first steps, whatever, in an effort to change the cycle here. And for trying ( imperfectly, of course ) to sort out some of the issues, to give leadership to a problem that is not going away, they get shouted down in a public forum? So tell me, why would anyone put themselves in that kind of role?

Well, better get myself out of this funk sooner rather than later. I'll end on a lighter note, and as a recovering 'eternal optimist' remind myself that I really do believe that if you read to the end of the book there are some answers, maybe not what we thought we wanted, or expected, or even hoped for, but progress, as minimal as it may seem. But then again, sitting in a jail in apartheid South Africa Nelson Mandela probably never imagined that the de Klerk government would end up as part of the solution, eh?

dlc

ps. it depends, I guess, on how you choose to define 'monster' ... could be a really good thing, like having a 'tiger by the tail' or something like that. I once had a confirmed, life long and proud of it pessimist tell me ... "go ahead and be an eternal optimist, but it will kill you. And then you'll be a terminal optimist!" ... so, no, I don't think there is a bad monster at the end of the book. I think, as the Cookie Monster is implying here, that could be a good thing, right?