Monday, April 6, 2009

karmic forces in check

One chicken down, one left, and four aruacanas tomorrow.

See http://images.google.com/images?q=araucana%20chickens&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi for the beautiful aruacana.

A bantum chicken has officially been kidnapped. I haven't filed a missing chicken report yet, but I have a good idea of what happened to her (e.g. raccoon, possum, dog). While I was initially sad and felt like a despicable chicken caretaker, I feel more upbeat now. Failure is inevitable and can only bring greater joy if we keep on keeping on. Plus, the karmic rays are shining brightly on the garden. The beds are moist, the sun is beating down, and the well water is abundant. I've been reading some beat poetry - I like Gary Snyder quite a bit.

As for making social change, the neighborhood potluck/food growing extravaganza has been planned and the invitations have been sent out. Soon, Tunison Street will be a food oasis...soon!

In a request from Charlene, I will continue on this thought train: Creating a meaningful life post-college."

Now that I live somewhere where I'm invested in the soil and the neighbors, I want to spend a lot of time at my house and on this street. I can understand why we see less "activism" out of college. People have real lives where they live that they just can't pick up and get away from. Whether it's pets, plants, children, or remodeling the kitchen, home time is incredibly valuable. I've really never had that before. While I've enjoyed my living situations, I never invested time or money in a place besides putting up random posters or cleaning the toilet (forced by Katie).

Furthermore, the larger community is more present in my daily life in that I organize with many folks outside of the university scene. And I like it. The college scene is limited to the extent that it doesn't represent (many) other ways of life and keeps me in a privileged resource base. However, I still live in a privileged community that has many resources, so I haven't moved that far.

Finally, I try to experiment with actually living my life instead of thinking in the past or the future. The present is not so bad. If we're mindful of small daily activities and take pleasure and truth from them, we can always find meaning.

1 comment:

crallspace said...

Thanks again for being so gracious with the chicken. I was really hoping we could all be happy with the outcome. AS it turns out, I am much more fond of this little white one and they are getting along great! Her name: "The brave little chicken." She tries to hang out with the 5 hens and also comforts the timid white one. She is the cutest thing in the backyard at the moment.