Long Day

I worked from home today, accessing my email remotely and working on my home computer as tree contractors stopped by to appraise removal of the limb that had fallen over the July 4th weekend, as well as removal of other dead wood in my back yard.

In the late afternoon, I had my first meeting with the Executive Committee of the Beltline advisory board. Nothing too significant about the meeting itself, other than another monthly obligation of my time.

Later that evening, I provided a Power Point presentation to the neighborhood alliance group about the history of our negotiations with the city and developers, as well as a re-articulation of our vision statement. I included the before-and-after photographs of the area, as well as our town's dismal rankings in traffic and pedestrian access. Unfortunately, I ruffled some feathers with the presentation after I pointed out that the professor some wanted to hire to help us with a Master Plan had previously worked against us for the development community. Although several people were appreciative of my effort and bringing the news to their attention, some others left the meeting angry and feeling resentful. I don't believe that I was anything other than honest, but it hurts me to see my words hurt others, even if they're using arrows that I had aimed at others to impale themselves.

Among the marks of a bodhisattva are kind speech and cooperation, and my presentation had the effect of generating argument and sowing disharmony among the alliance. These strong emotions may fade with time, but I can already sense the waves of karma forming that will eventually crash back down on me.

But as I said, some in the group appreciated my effort and joined me for a late-night dinner after words. I didn't get home until a few minutes before midnight, and realized that I had left Eliot outside (I don't like to leave him out after dark, because we have foxes in the neighborhood, and there have been sightings and rumors of coyotes). He was waiting on my doorstep, unharmed, when I finally got home.

A long day. I work extra hard when I'm at my home office to compensate for any appearance of slacking off. The Executive Committee meeting took up a good amount of time and the alliance meeting was stressful and demanding. And even the late-night dinner was difficult as the restaurant was crowded and noisy and the group stayed far later than I would have liked. I fell asleep as soon as I got home (this post was written the following day and back-dated).

But isn't that how life is? We want to pick and choose our experiences and often resist accepting the conditions in which we find ourselves, even though those conditions are the fruit of our own actions. Flowers, while cherished, fade and weeds, while despised, flourish.