Day 120

Day 120: Real Time
Day 16: 21 Day Complaint Free Journey


“Life intervenes,” I often say when trying to be encouraging to someone who is frustrated by life’s tendency to take its own path. We can be hard on ourselves, beating ourselves up when we become entangled in our lives, almost as if we should be perfect little widgets that operate without ever being oiled or rested.

Life intervened for me yesterday. My feet hit the floor before dawn, which in itself isn’t unusual, but I had to actually leave the house to be downtown, a 30 minute drive on a good traffic day, parked, and through a security check before 9 AM. My destination? The Youth Offender Diversion program here in our county where I was beginning a tour of duty as a volunteer mediator.

Without violating my strict code of ethics regarding confidentiality, I can say that my complaints begin a dramatic slide to the bottom of the scale of importance as I listen to these young people and their parents. I’m often griping about a flat tire or perceived slight while these children tell tales of drive-by shootings and abandonment. I am humbled in their presence, ashamed by my self-involvement and selfishness.

After my three hour session was over at noon, I was depleted, both mentally and physically. But, for the first time in a while, I felt that I had done some good for one or two young people. Maybe, just maybe, we had offered them a lifeline that would pull them back from the edge of losing themselves in a world that all too often must look very frightening and cold.

This blog didn’t get written yesterday. I returned home and dropped back into my regular schedule as much as possible, researching for an upcoming writing deadline and preparing for a meeting in my home later in the evening. I’m evolved enough now to face that empty slot on my list of entries as I document my complaint-free journey, shrug and say to myself, “Life intervened.”

Day16

(6 more days to go!)

Weathered but standing