Good. Lewis
On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 9:17 AM, Benjamin Chaucer <benchau...@gmail.com>wrote: > > Benjamin Torello Chaucer > Multi-cultural Healing > Assignment #1 > > When Story Helped Heal. > I used to get anxious. Not about anything specific just in general. > I would worry about my life, my path and what I was doing. I was > perpetually afraid that I wasn’t doing enough and that what I was > doing, I wasn’t doing right. I would feel that having fun or relaxing > from time to time was not only a waste of time but was cosmically not > allowed, it wasn’t good enough in the grand scheme of things. Because > of this mentality I felt that many of the activities in my life were > not ok to enjoy and subsequently I spent much of my young life feeling > guilty about enjoying myself or not doing anything, waiting for the > one thing that was a sufficiently fantastic use of time. I felt that > in general most things were futile, I wanted to be fighting in a > revolution or doing work, clearly stated by God as being the right > thing. > When I was eighteen I took a trip to Italy with a girlfriend at the > time. We stayed with friends of mine who live there and traveled > around the country, soaking in the ruins and castles, street vendors > and small city streets. We both loved history and were interested in > the ruins of Pompeii, curios about the ancient preserved city > decimated by a volcanic eruption. After a long day of traveling we > reached our destination and began exploring the preserved city. The > tiny streets and doorways were incredible. Paint still remained on > many walls inside buildings and there was still charcoal from bread in > the bakery ovens. Courtyards had well preserved mosaics and fish > pools in which elegant statues stood defiantly in the center. > We tagged onto the back of a tour group and followed as they walked > the city streets, past dye markets and brothels, wealthy manors and > village common space and into the underground steam baths. The baths > were beautifully adorned with ornate carving and paintings and > complete with lockers to hold personal belongings. > As we exited the steam baths we paused and the tour guide asked the > group to consider the fixture just outside the door, asking if anyone > could guess what it had been. I looked at the cylindrical holes > placed in two rows of three, which stood about three feet above the > ground and thought. Patiently the guide listened as several ideas > were tossed about and then, declared; “They are to-go stands, so that > people could pick up some hot food to bring home for dinner after > leaving the steam baths.” I stared, bewildered looking transfixed at > the three thousand year old fast food restaurant. > Here I had imagined a world where the reality that people inhabited > was for some reason vastly different from my own. I had imagined that > the world was changing, drastically and that we were in, or close to > the end times. I had been waiting for purpose, sure that the trivial > moments that made up my life were for some reason less real, than > something else that I had never witnessed. There in front of the > ancient ruins of a drive thru I thought, and realized that what I was > going through was nothing new. That life simply was and to wait for > something spectacular to sweep me away was causing me to miss the very > moments that made up my existence. I realized that what I felt had > been felt before and that my life was not that drastically different > from that of my ancestors. > > > > > -- IMPORTANT WARNING: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it contain CONFIDENTIAL information, including PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL HEALTH INFORMATION which is intended for the use of the person to whom it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail/attachment is not the intended recipient, employee, or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, reproduction, reading, or copying of this information is STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW. If you received this e-mail in error, please delete the related e-mail and all attachments and notify the sender immediately (reply e-mail) at mehlmadr...@gmail.com. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CulturalandTraditionalHealthandHealing" group. To post to this group, send email to culturalandtraditionalhealthandhealing@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to culturalandtraditionalhealthandhealing+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.ca/group/culturalandtraditionalhealthandhealing?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
