SHARING

Three weeks of Fiber Camp are finished and I am, this week, catching up with all that was put aside while I focused on sharing fiber techniques with many children.

I purposely saying sharing with rather than teaching to, because that is really what we do.  Everyone has different ways of doing things and we all learn from each other.

One of the things that came up today, was a committee meeting for a local organization.  There are some serious blocks within the organization but I am excited about potential breakthroughs, now that we are acknowledging the issues and starting a dialogue.  The meeting got interesting when one woman brought up the fact that some of the staff and board of this organization have some control issues.  She used a different way of saying it because she could not figure out how to say what she wanted to say.  Her courage to bring the issue out, regardless of choice of words, gave others the opportunity to put their own words to the issue.  One participant asked what the controllers might be hoping to gain from holding things so closely instead of SHARING the load.  Was it a need to be recognized or acknowledged?  Did they need to feel important?

The whole conversation brought back a memory of a rehab hospital where I was doing some volunteer work, with patients in the hospital garden.  The philosophy of that hospital was, that all who worked there were equal; no one was more important than anyone else. One way this was expressed was by dress code.  You really could not tell who were the doctors and who the support staff as you walked throughout the hospital.  There was art by local artists on all the walls and they too, were considered equally important in the rehabilitation of the patients.  Important responsibilities were gladly shared.  The healing of the patient was truly a group effort.

The hospital vegetable garden was quite small.  I remember wondering how I could keep the patients busy over time with important and meaningful work.  I didn't wonder long.  The patients were given choices about activities and those who chose to work in the garden knew what the garden needed.  One of the first patients I met in the garden found her way to get down to the soil and began removing many small stones I had not even noticed.  I wasn't teaching- we were all sharing.

As we recall the stories in our lives, may we be enlightened and may we SHARE them.