Seeing The Light in the Darkness

I had a few interesting experiences over the last few days.   I have to premise this by saying I am not lost on the perfect timing of late.

I marvelled at getting lost and being late for an appointment. I nearly became frustrated and then thought just go with the flow. You get there on time. I met an old lady at this appointment by chance and she was english. She told me she had worked since 15 years of age. She had worked in mines, on railway lines, in sweat shops etc. She had done everything she said. She was just retired and had fibro myalga, it is very painful she told me. She also found adjustment to not working very hard. I felt for her and admired her spirit. I recognised she was worn out by a life of work and hadn’t spent time by herself to know herself. She told me working in the sweat shop in Sydney (not overseas) was very tough. The women would earn 2 cents a garment. They were sewing for all the big brands in the same factory. I reflected on how they charge different prices and the branding. Branding is a way of value adding products. If people see prestige in a brand or think it is good quality they will spend more. So the profit is in marketing not necessarily product quality. She told me the men supervised whilst the women worked. She said they were pressured to work very hard, even going to the toilet was difficult. I shook my head at the slavery of this. I told her about my experience on my Rotary course in Thailand where we visited a Target factory in Cambodia. I was struck firstly by all the women working in the factory. I noted the males watching them to make sure they made quota. I remember consciously smiling at the women to send love to them in my own way. They probably thought I was American from the Target hierarchy. I waved at them and tried to connect emotionally in what looked to me like a battery hen farm. I marvel at how we treat people as cogs in the wheel. It takes me back to my economics degree learning about the first Model T Ford’s produced on production lines. They were all the same colour. People spent their whole day doing one movement. Their bodies mirroring a cog in a wheel. I’ve also worked in a factory (not for long) and I asked the guy who had been there 40 years why he stayed. He did the same machine work. He got used to it. I asked him what he did when he got home. He watched t.v. and went to bed. He did that every day. There was nothing different happening for him. Such was his life. I shuddered at such a rote life. I turned to this woman and she told me she had sat for 2 hours waiting for her appointment. I was not impressed with her waiting. People get used to doing what they are told as they feel it goes nowhere speaking up. I think if everyone just spoke the truth it would go a long way. Perhaps that is the light in the darkness. Expect more from life.

I went onto my next appointment and spent 1 hour there. I then left the building and hit the streets. I overheard this man speaking to a woman. He said ‘inspiring people’. I nearly crossed the road and then followed him trying to pick up on what he is saying. He then kissed the woman he was with and kept going and level pegged with me. I then turned to him and asked him what he meant. He said he was looking for inspiring people. I told him I am a peace clown and a little about what I do. He then suggested we sit for a coffee. Turns out he is a Franciscan Monk (under cover) as I was a peace clown (under cover) have to laugh. He told me he had been working with youth for 8 years in Fremantle. He said Western Australia had a lot of domestic violence and drug issues. Fremantle was the spot to go if I wanted to help young people. I see people as all the same and it doesn’t matter to me where I go. I know there is good in everyone from my experience as a clown. He talked about opening a cafe and having young people run it. I liked that idea he could call the cafe ‘inspirations’ or something like that. He told me he had travelled the world and I observed he was a very warm and kind person. I am sure he touched many lives in his work and walking the talk. I told him of my world trip and my desire to develop inner peace and outer peace. We felt there may be ways we can work together. I could get kids dressed up as clowns and go to a hospital, this would help them to learn to tap into their ‘giving nature’ which is our true self. The Monk told me he had tapped into others ‘giving’ by taking his car to the mechanic. He asked the guy had he ever given a gift. The guy said no, he said now is your opportunity. He told him he doesn’t work for money and the works he does, he then said this is the moment to give, the mechanic I am sure probably didn’t know what to say. He works for money. However, the Monk stood there and smiled and the mechanic decided to do a service on his car. The Monk told me smiling he even changed his brake pads for free. What I got from the conversation was that the mechanic actually enjoyed giving, he gave more. In fact what really happened was that he tapped into his inner wealth. We are naturally givers when we are in a natural state, it is actually not normal for us to take. The system we have around us does inspire selfishness not our unselfish nature. So it was lovely to hear the mechanic found joy in giving. That is another light in the darkness.

The last experience I’d like to talk about was incredibly inspiring for me. I was at a university here in Perth and I saw a blind girl walking past the eating place I was in. I looked at her and silently commented internally how inspiring she was to be able to get around alone with a stick and no sight at a university. Now universities are about learning, analysing, writing – all activities that require sight. So I decided to go to this woman (she was sitting on a small wall) and tell her how inspirational she is.

I go up to her and introduce myself. She tells me her name is Una. I told her she is an inspiration and she smiled. I asked her what she was studying? she said psychology. She told me the story of her life. She had become blind at 20 she was 45 now. The most interesting part of her story was before she was blind she said she was a bit irratic and wishy washy. She said she used to write a journal and one day she said to herself ‘i want to be blind’. I questioned her on that, I said ‘did you mean it?’, she said ‘yes’. Why did she want to be blind? I asked her. She said ‘because I am too distracted’. She went onto explain that life has too many things distracting her from her inner self. I was so surprised at the wisdom of this lady. I asked her at any point did she regret being blind given she had been sighted. She said she had been depressed for 3 years after the accident but she accepted her situation. She was able to create a virtual reality from memory of what trees look like. She told me in front of where she was sitting was trees and a large grassy area (oval). She was right. She knew the place in a virtual way in her mind. She said she could dream in colour and black and white. She was able to remember the images. I was astounded. She said she knew herself and that she had inner strength. She noted changes in her family after the accident. Prior to the accident they were emotionally remote, after, they become more touchy and feeling with her. She said her brother couldn’t understand her. There is a temptation for people to feel sorry for her, but she had it together. This was her second psychology degree, as much time had lapsed, her qualifications were not recognised so she is doing it again. She told me she loved people very much and wanted to help them. I said to her I can see how you can inspire people, because you are blind you are not going to judge them by how they look. They can sit with you and you will feel them through the heart. They don’t have to worry. I really loved that. She was as sharp as a tac and a really wise person. I am so glad I had the common sense to go and speak to her. We had a great chat, I told her I was a clown and much of what she was saying I felt resonance with in my own life. I want to help people too and I love people. I found her courage very refreshing and I told her ‘you would inspire people every day by walking around blind many will be amazed that you can do it.’ So when they think it is all too hard they can think of you. She has a computer that reads websites and she did confess she gets distracted there. On the whole she is very tuned in to herself. I really loved that and was spun out that she had actually wanted it. We did speak about the illusion of the world we see. We also discussed the blindness and denial of seeing people who only focus on money or work or their own needs, without seeing a deeper world. She had seen that deeper world and wrote poetry as well. So there are many who are blind and interestingly we discussed that she can actually see. She was seeing the truth of herself and living an authentic life. That is definitely a light in the darkness.

So I leave you with these beautiful stories. Life is an opportunity to reach out further than yourself and discover the amazing courageous people out there. Don’t stand next to someone in a queue and say nothing. Say hello and ask them about themselves. If you feel to connect with someone, have the courage to just say hello and inquire and lastly if you feel to give someone a compliment go ahead and just do it. You then become the light in the darkness.