Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A Friday Postcript - Part 4


I should have turned to page two of my notes - those with good memories or better notes might have noticed that I omitted a story or two from Margaret's afternoon session. So here they are.

She asked us to discern in the afternoon discussion group where humanization was happening and what were the positive signs of it. How can we avoid the danger elements. It's too bad that there aren't yellow caution signs and red warning signs in life as well as in traffic. She was reminded of her daughter's graduation when the college president asked each grad what he or she was going to do next? One said that she was going to become a leading neurosurgeon. Another answered, "I'm going to walk down three steps". Both are correct answers, - we are more apt to side with the second answer though, rather than face up to the demands of the longer journey.



Margaret has participated in some quintessential Canadian experiences, - like being in a canoe. She was paddling around happily on a small Algonquin Park lake and was later fascinated to hear that one could paddle from the St. Lawrence to Alberta, by means of a path called "portage". Her French was good enough to interpret it.

How does one accomplish it, she wondered. By trial and error. She finally discovered that one found the path ultimately by walking it. First nations people did ultimately provide a shorthand though. They looked for the tallest pine near the path and stripped off the lower branches so that all the energy would go to the top and provide a way.

The portages on Lake Homo Sapiens have to provide a path travelled single file but along with others. And of course as soon as you up end the canoe, everything in it spills out. One has to travel light and shed excess baggage. There is no signage or corporate head office but always somewhere to go. Stripped and marked, Jesus promises I am the Way, - but the way is not the same as the destination. That is ours to find.

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