Tragic Gap

Bar-- Bab-- (returning to visit the area) spoke in ministry at Meeting, referring to Parker Palmer's description of the Tragic Gap.

It turns out Parker Palmer (a Quaker educator) speaks and writes about this very often, and one can find his reference to the tragic gap in multiple venues.

I copy this over because it catches something i've known without a name for it:

The insight at the heart of nonviolence is that we live in a tragic gap-a gap between the way things are and the way we know they might be. It is a gap that never has been and never will be closed. If we want to live nonviolent lives, we must learn to stand in the tragic gap, faithfully holding the tension between reality and possibility.

I harbor no illusions about how hard it is to live that way. Though I aspire to be one of those life-giving people who keeps a grip on both reality and hope, I often find that tension too hard to hold--so I let go of one pole and collapse into the other. Sometimes I resign myself to things as they are, sinking into a life of cynical disengagement. Sometimes I embrace a dreamy idealism, living a life of cheerful irresponsibility that floats above the fray.

Wah! (Sunday notes)

I'm not reaaaady for Muuuuuuunday.

Yesterday: puttered on the laptop (doing what?), left to set up lunch, opened and greeted for Meeting, skipped announcements (which can be about thirty minutes of community building) to finish setting up lunch, ate, washed dishes, home.

I note that my escape to the kitchen to clean up was well learned from my socially-avoidant mother.

I did upgrade the laptop to Snow Leopard, which went smoothly, during which i actually finished my yarn swift and wound up a few skeins of white thread to dye. The duct tape to hold the swift to a cone of cardboard in the mike stand needs work, but the proof of concept has succeeded.

Quicksilver was harder to get working, but it seems to be OK now. I have Mail ActOn to install (a month trial version): i'm missing it this morning. Drag and drop? Argh, that takes coordination!

Mail ActOn seems to have changed from the version i've been happily using, so i'm going to have to learn it, apparently. Feh.

Things I haven't mentioned (at least, i don't think i did)

Last Thursday was Take Your Kids to Work day, which my company observes. I had a discussion with the two kids who were still in the office after lunch about Gantt Charts and project planning. MUCH good natured ribbing from my colleagues, but i remember fondly my Dad trying to explain Gantt charts to me. That was a gift i thought i could pass on.

Christine's done some domain name activism. Sick of snarky "Obamacare" comments? Connect folks to http://obama-cares.com to get answers to questions about health care reform.

I remain impressed by just how much ... guilt? self-recrimination? ... i can package up for myself. I'm doing something i should have done but screwed up an important detail in doing, that let a staff member down. In a compensation sort of way. I have procrastinated on fixing it. I just tried to initiate the fix. [Time passes] And it went through without a hitch, a phone call, a don't do that. Why are those things so scary (and didn't happen), but the knowledge that someone was counting on me wasn't enough to motivate?

Health: It's been a long while since i've felt the side of my face burning. This is very mild, around my left cheek bone, more forward. I did have a nasty headache this morning, for which i took two aleve.

Like dot com -- i'm not going to give something particularly trackable there -- is in the offices opposite mine. The youngthings dressed beyond dressed who i bump into in the shared ladies room are so surreal compared to our 40plus comfortable shoes crowd.