Dear Friends,
I think our experiment yesterday was a resounding success, and we should do it
again, often. Thank you to Douglas and Bettina and Sara and Diana and Stephen
and Chappell and Dave. It was so lovely to see everyone's faces and hear your
voices! It seemed absolutely right to start the new year together this way.
This is a story I was going to share on the theme yesterday, if we had extra
time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *My first pregnancy. Many months of discomfort,
bloating, loosening joints, and living in a constant state of fear. My water
broke. After three days of painful labor and a lot of swearing, the doctor
knocked me out, slit open my belly, and removed the parasite that was causing
the trouble.
By the time I left the hospital, my body was traumatized. I had acquired a debt
equal to 6 months wages, a newborn daughter, and a problem.
I had to take care of the baby, this tiny, magical, helpless hybrid
spirit-animal. But I couldn’t take care of the baby because I had to go back to
work to pay off the debt. I couldn’t go to work because my body needed to heal.
I didn't have time to heal because I had to take care of the baby. My dilemma
kept circling around itself. It seemed unsolvable to me.
Fast forward forty years to today.
Somehow, the problem was solved. The medical trauma healed, the debt was
discharged. But the magical child still exists. The hybrid spirit-animal became
a permanent reality, while the trauma and debt are long gone.
It’s 2020. It seems that our whole society is traumatized – emotionally and
medically. We have acquired crushing new debt trying to alleviate the financial
fallout of Covid-19. I’m seeing that we have the trauma, we have the debt... I
think to myself, I’ve seen this pattern before.
I ask myself, where is the child?
What good is coming our way? I'm certain that good will come of this trauma.
The UB promises that.
I’m looking for the magical child of 2020. She is coming to us all, if we will
allow her.
Michelle Klimesh
