Meditations on Three Quotes (plus one for good measure)

The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth.
-Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh-

Today was not an exceptionally interesting or "adventurous” day. But it was a day nonetheless. And it was mine. And for that I am infinitely grateful. I think to often greatness, amazingness, interest, adventure, and a great many other terms are made into black and white absolutes. In order to be a great man everyday must be filled with inspiring actions. To be a great adventure one must do things that risk life and limb. To be interesting it must be something untried. I reject those statements as the work of minds too simple to fully grasp the complexity and beauty of this world.

My day was beautiful. I bought groceries, listened to a football game and thought of home, and went on a walk with a new friend. I feel blessed to have an opportunity to do ordinary things in an extraordinary place.

Gandhi still put his pants on one leg at a time, Mandela occasionally forgets things, and the Dalai Lama farts. Extraordinary men still have ordinary days and are better for it.

I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe: nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids - and I might even be said to posses a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.

-Ralph Ellison-

Mr. Ellison and I do not speak from the same experience or even on the same level. However, we share an emotion. Feeling unseen. People could not see Ralph Ellison, shadowed in the color of his skin. People cannot see me for more complex reasons. Partially of my own making, in many ways I wish to remain a mystery, and do not always let out the fullness of me in my interactions with others. Partially people do not want to see past my outward appearances. This is again my doing, but to be honest there is no “look” that would capture the complete picture of me. To quote Walt Whitman and one of my favorite quotations of all time,

“Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then I contradict myself.
I am large, I contain multitudes.”

How can any one person be completely summed up in a glance or a single conversation? The simple answer is that they cannot. Yes sometimes my look and my soul contradict themselves, so what? Look for more in me, you will find it. I will look for more in you, let me see it. If you are willing to see me I am willing to see you. And I am begging to be seen.

Out of clutter, find Simplicity.
From discord, find Harmony.
In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity.
- Albert Einstein (Three Rules of Work)-

Nail on the head, Al.

You can call him Al, I can call you Betty, but Betty when you call me, you can call him Al.

But I digress.

I have been so glad to find all of these things so far in my life, clutter, discord, and difficulty. I am so thankful to experience the struggles, the down slope, and the blows. Because the light is that much brighter every time I make it through, and inevitably I do make it through. And it is this attitude, to search for the things Einstein promises, that allows me to realize the rewards offered. I carry the scars, but they allow me to speak and act from experience. There is a certain beauty to the battle tested, the fatigued, and the tried.

And there is a brotherhood for those who have faced the world head on and find themselves better for it.