Writing is not Transcribing Thoughts

If we thought with words then writing would be easy since we would just have to transcribe our thoughts. Maybe I’m weird but that is not what my writing process is like. I have thoughts that I have to translate into words and then I have to extensively edit the words to convey more of the thoughts than the first translation did. Plus, some thoughts evolve throughout the writing and editing process. And when I am engaged in a feedback process with editors who are not me I have to contend with what they are taking from my writing and projecting back at me both through their words and any other channels of communication to which I have access. 

If you hold the opinion that you think in words, does that mean that you have never had a thought that you couldn’t put into words?

Does it mean that you have never felt a magnitude of awe that made you speechless?

If there are people who think entirely in words I pity the limitations of their world. I also fear for the real world consequences of their thought processes. 

Are there advocates of the 3Rs version of Back-to-Basics that are assuming that teaching the 3Rs is the ultimate form of education because that is, practically speaking, complete access to the their entire world? 

On second thought, maybe that explains a lot of bad things in the world. If people in power are limited to thinking and acting based on words alone then they are living in such an impoverished world that they are an order of magnitude more delusional that those of us whose thinking transcends words. 

Our education system is a failure to every child who leaves childhood without having experiences that transcend the 3Rs. 

I wrote about a similar topic recently: magical thinking about language

(While I was writing this I found that there is very limited information about the modes of people's thoughts. Linda Kreger Silverman estimates 25% of people think only in words, but there appears to be some other source that estimates a range of zero to one percent. My biases and the fact that I could find no corroboration of Silverman's claim have me suspect that none to one percent might be more right.)

Heroism Interrupted: A Cautionary Fairy Tale for Leaders

This page is a script for a video preface to Leadership in Education: How to Play the Hero's Game.

Once upon a time there was a king whose kingdom had fallen on hard times. 

First, a pestilence struck his kingdom and as people got weak with hunger they fell victim to a terrible plague that even killed the queen. 

The king did not yet have an heir so he took the first opportunity to marry a princess from a neighboring kingdom. 

Unbeknownst to them, their misfortune had attracted the attention of a trio of terrible dragons in the mountains above the kingdom. 

After watching the people of the kingdom get decimated by the calamities that befell them the dragons interest was piqued by the grand show of wealth and finery that the wedding celebration brought about.

The dragons began to approach when they saw that festivities were underway. 

Just after the king had exchanged vows with his new queen, Varda, they burst upon the scene. 

The blue dragon struck first by eating the king and capturing the maid of honor, Lady Geniveve. 

The red dragon stole a chest that held the kingdoms most valuable treasures. 

Finally, the yellow dragon snatched the new queen. 

After the panic had subsided the king's regent, the ancient Sir Grenadier, seized the moment to offer the entire kingdom to anyone who could rescue Queen Varda and recover the treasure. 

The drunk 8th Earl of Poselthwaite boasted that he would defeat the dragons and immediately set off to the dragon's lair with nothing but a bottle of spirits and a short sword. 

He boldly walked right down the middle of the valley that lead to the dragon's mountain lair bellowing his boasts all the way. 

Thus, he never saw which dragon brought his end because it swooped down from behind to eat him in a single bite. 

Later, two itinerant knights, Sir Wallace and Sir Monty, stepped forward simultaneously from opposite sides of the courtyard to offer their services. 

They both rushed off trying to be the first to sneak into the dragons' lair. 

Sir Wallace, the first to arrive, discovered the yellow dragon standing guard over the chest and the pair of fair ladies. 

He bravely confronted the beast and was able to get between them. 

Then with his shining broad sword he made a mighty sweeping blow that lopped off the head of the dragon, but, alas, on the backswing … took off Lady Geneveive's head, too. 

Upon realizing his deadly mistake he cried out in aggrieved surprise at his stroke of incompetence. 

But before his cry had echoed back the blue dragon flew down, pinned him to the ground, and prepared to feast on the knight. 

Meanwhile, Sir Monty had been observing the incompetence of his colleague and seized the moment to approach the blue dragon from behind. 

Just after the dragon had dispatched Sir Wallace he was decapitated by Sir Monty, who was careful to avoid creating collateral damage. 

Then the hero freed the young queen, grabbed the chest, and in a rush of triumph they hurried back to the castle as quickly as they could. 

The regent was grateful to the hero for his brave rescue of Queen Varda (though disappointed at the loss of Lady Geniveve) and asked that the chest be opened. 

The lid was lifted revealing that it was filled with plain rocks. 

The regent sadly shook his head in disappointment and clucked his tongue. 

The hero was so ashamed and furious that he rushed back to the dragon's lair only to be eaten by the red dragon, who was clever enough to have hidden the real treasure and set an ambush after discovering the loss of his companions and the chest. 

The red dragon also returned to the castle later that night and boldly recaptured the queen from her tower bedchamber and once again the kingdom was stricken with great dread at their misfortune.

So, the old regent asked once again for someone, anyone who would be willing to fight the red dragon.

Eventually a rather modest looking warrior in dilapidated armor, Reginald, stepped forward. 

The regent gave him a great steed to get him on his way more swiftly and the courtiers whispered amongst themselves that he was doomed. 

Knowing that his chances of success were slim Reginald visited an ancient reclusive monk who lived on the opposite side of the valley from the dragons. 

The monk was moved by the misfortune of the kingdom and the sense of duty that motivated the brave warrior. 

He said that he only had one thing to offer the brave knight. 

It was magic mirror. 

It's magic was to reflect only the gazers greatest fear. 

He gave Reginald the mirror wrapped in coarse cloth and sent him on his way. 

The unassuming warrior found the dragon's lair and came up with a plan. 

By throwing small parts of his armor behind the dragon he tricked it into thinking he had snuck by and gotten inside the cave. 

The dragon chased after the sound assuming the warrior was heading directly towards the treasure, but instead lead him to the hidden trove. 

Reginald hid in a side passage when, after searching in vain for the source of the sound, the dragon returned to the cave entrance to guard the queen. 

Reginald put the magic mirror at the end of the passage where he had hidden and then he once again enticed the dragon into the cave but this time down the dim dead end passage. 

When the dragon looked at the end of the dim passage it just saw a knight sitting with the queen before the treasure chest which was set as if it were a dinner table. 

They were about to eat a large red dragon steak served up on a shiny silver platter. 

The dragon was enraged by this sight and attacked the image with all it's might. 

But, of course, he was actually looking into the magic mirror and so he slammed himself into the wall with such force that he knocked himself out and Reginald easily dispatched him. 

The warrior gathered up as much treasure as he and the queen could carry together on the mighty steed and headed back to the castle. 

But alas, while recovering Queen Varda and the treasure was a great accomplishment, the warrior could not outwit the plague and the pestilence, so everyone got sick and died. 

The End

Now you must be wondering what kind of fairy tale is it that ends such. 

It might be the truth of our own future if we do not learn from those who failed in this story. 

The hero's challenge is first to survive and, then, thrive. 

A hero attains that status by having hard goals that have a major obstacle that prevents just anyone from achieving them. 

But, there are also inherent boundaries to how those goal states must come about and those boundaries create the playing field that defines what game the hero must play. 

In order to become a hero you have to play the right game for the circumstances. 

When the drunken 8th Earl of Poselthwaite shows up to play with dragons using only his dulled wits and a short sword, he fails. 

He did not really understand the game he needed to play. 

If you don't pay close enough attention to the right details of your situation you can inadvertently put yourself in harm's way. 

On the other hand the two knights seem to be playing the right game, but still broke the implicit rules for success. 

Sir Wallace's killing one of the the damsels in distress was a losing move. 

You have to stay within the bounds of the playing field because sometimes thinking “outside the box” is a losing move, not a creative one.

Sir Monty's accidentally recovering worthless stones was also a losing move. 

You have to keep your eyes on the prize, it's just no good to let your success get to your head and lose track of what you have to do. 

And finally, let's consider Reginald.

When he cannot cure the plague and stop the pestilence, he loses, too. 

And when the hero fails, the whole kingdom continues to suffer.

In this case it is a challenge that is simply beyond his ability and resources to handle. 

They were living in the time of knights-in-shining-armor and kings-living-in-castles. 

All the wealth in the world could not buy the public health measures that did not exist for them. 

Today, however, we have everything we need to play and win the heroic game of our time. 

The problem is knowing what the game is and the implicit boundaries that define success. 

The heroes of today are also going to rescue the vulnerable, retrieve a valuable treasure, and provide for health and wellness. 

• The realm in dire straights that my work addresses is K-12 schools. 
• The game is paradigm change. 
• The vulnerable are the children. 
• The treasure is optimal states of mind. 
• And, finally, providing for well-being requires a multi-level ecological perspective on the true boundaries of the playing field.
  
  On the one hand, we know that primary human needs give us one level of the necessary boundaries.
  
  On the other hand, we know that supporting need satisfaction requires us to see how each individual with those needs is embedded in a network of different levels of influence; such as one-to-one relationships, ecologies, organizations, and society. 

You can find out more about how to understand the heroic game of paradigm change in K-12 schools on my web site Teach-Kids-Attitude-1st.com. 

By clicking on the leadership button you will find my explanation of the game and it's boundaries. 

Thanks for watching.

This page is a script for a video preface to Leadership in Education: How to Play the Hero's Game.

Poetry- The Crickets Have Arthritis

Beautiful Spoken Poetry from Sarah Kay

YouTube Storytime: The Gatekeeper

My telling of The Gatekeeper:

Storytelling on Youtube: Santa's New List

Here's my telling of one of my own stories:

Regarding Them: Moral Values for a Pluralistic Society

Prelude to My Story

Once upon a time we were “better than” them.
Twice upon a time they were “better than” us.
Thrice upon a time we are them and they are us, and we put “better than” away on the highest shelf in the back of our closet, practically lost but not entirely forgotten.


My Story

My story begins long, long ago in a faraway place
I think it was just yesterday when we were visiting next door.
Our people thought we were better than them, those Other people.
You know the people I am talking about, those people who are different from us.
The ones who are not as pretty as us, not as handsome as we are, not as strong, not as upstanding, not as smart, and their things are not nearly as good as ours.
And we thought God wanted it that way.

But it is really hard to tell what God wants because
God’s voice is louder than all noises and quieter than silence,
God’s body is bigger than the whole world and smaller than the mote of dust you can only see when the sun shines on it just so,
God points the way faster than light and moves slower than a mountain,
God completely embraces us in the warmest love and gives us the ultimate freedom to be ourselves.
And sometimes we think that our own thoughts and ideas about what is right and good must be God’s ideas, too.
And if everyone agrees then it must be true.

So we looked at the world, and we saw that we were pretty and handsome.
We saw that we are strong and upstanding.
We saw that we had the right answers.
And we got together and talked about how good we are, and how different we are from those people.

But they were still over there and did not seem to be aware that they were at such a disadvantage.
So we went to them and tried to teach them about how to be as pretty and handsome as us, as strong and upstanding as we are, and how to get the right answers.

But they would not change and some of them even disagreed with us.
Most of them saw how good we are, and some were even grateful that we were willing to share but then they mostly went back to their old ways again.

So it was clear to us that they must have misunderstood.
Perhaps, we thought, they are just so very different that we couldn’t really communicate.
We decided that we had to be a little more clever and creative to help them see how to get our advantages.

So we made up a game.
Not just a little game, but a big game.
A game that everyone has to play.
And we got them to play, not because it was our game, but because we showed them how when we all play this game then we might have a lot of fun together.

But since the game was one that everyone had to play all the time, most of us forgot that it was a game.
Of course, the whole point of the game is to teach those people how to be like us and have all the right advantages.
So in order to really teach them, the game had to show them how
our way is God’s way to be strong, upstanding, pretty and handsome.
And whenever part of the game was not quite right, we changed the rules, just a little bit to better teach the lesson that God wants everyone to play the game our way because it is exactly how God made us.

But it is really hard to tell what God wants because
God’s voice is louder than all noises and quieter than silence,
God’s body is bigger than the whole world and smaller than the mote of dust you can only see when the sun shines on it just so,
God points the way faster than light and moves slower than a mountain,
God completely embraces us in the warmest love and gives us the ultimate freedom to be ourselves.
And sometimes we think that our own thoughts and ideas about what is right and good must be God’s ideas, too.
And if everyone agrees then it must be true.

And since we are not God, and do not always know what God really wants we made a game that was not really fair.
The game was made by us to help teach people about how it is to be us.
And we are the best players of our game because we have the most practice at being like us, and know the game better than anybody else.
But if we set up the game to make us win all the time, then those people lose all the time.
And in case you haven’t noticed yet, it is not fun to lose all the time.
Part of the fun of games is the possibility that you could win, sometimes, even if it’s really hard.

Now, God did make a game for us to play, but it’s not the game we made up.
The game God made up is one in which God is the only judge, God is the only one who enforces the rules of God’s game.
For instance, one of the most basic rules of God’s game here on earth is that up is up and down is down and if something doesn’t have support it falls down, not up.

But not all of God’s rules are so easy to figure out,
in fact, we really don’t know what all of God’s rules are,
we don’t even know how many there are.
That’s why we have invented really big games like religion and science.
Both science and religion are games that we play to discover God’s rules for the universe, but science only looks for some of the rules while religion looks for the others.

Religion is a game we play to discover the other rules that science can’t figure out.
In my religious community, Unitarian Universalism,
we say that everyone gets to decide for themselves which game of religion to play and therefore which rules for being religious to obey.
And after they have decided what religion they will practice they are expected to be
respectful of Others,
responsible for their own choices and
resourceful at getting what they need to be a good person.
We believe that each person has to figure out their own way of deciding what God wants.

But it is really hard to tell what God wants because
God’s voice is louder than all noises and quieter than silence,
God’s body is bigger than the whole world and smaller than the mote of dust you can only see when the sun shines on it just so,
God points the way faster than light and moves slower than a mountain,
God completely embraces us in the warmest love and gives us the ultimate freedom to be ourselves.
And sometimes we think that our own thoughts and ideas about what is right and good must be God’s ideas, too.
And if everyone agrees then it must be true.

Did you know that all people everywhere on earth play ball games?
But, the kinds of games they play with balls are all different.
All people play with balls but they all have different rules for making their ball games fun.
Thus, balls are a universal tool for making fun games.
Those three things I mentioned a moment ago;
respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness,
are just three of the hundreds of tools that all religions agree are necessary for making good people.
All those tools are called virtues.

Virtues are taught in every religion on earth.
Virtues are not the rules of the game of religion,
they are the absolutely necessary equipment that you need to play the game.
How each religion practices each virtue may be a little bit different,
but what all the virtues have in common is that they are the ways that we take care of ourselves, our families and friends.

“Better than” is not a virtue, it is not even a vice which is the opposite of a virtue.
But it is a tool that we use to compare things.
“Better than” is an important tool, because without “better than” we would not be able to tell which water is better for drinking and which food is better for eating and which tool is the best for the job at hand.
“Better than” is a tool that is necessary but it is one that we have to be careful about how we use.
It can be hurtful to compare people in some ways, so we need to take another look before we compare people to make sure that the comparison we make is going to be helpful and not hurtful.
“Better than” should be about how to take care of ourselves and Others, about how to have well-being for everyone, without exception.

But, when I looked at just one of those people,
(you know the people I am talking about, those people who are different from us,
the ones who are not as pretty as us, not as handsome as we are, not as tall, not as young, not as nice, and their things are not nearly as good as ours)
I saw a little girl who got a cut on her finger.
And her cut finger hurt her just like mine did when I cut it once.
Her blood was red just like mine was when I bleed,
and when she cried, her tears were wet, just like mine.
In that moment when I looked at her I saw comging out from inside of her the dearest and most personal things in every human life; pain, blood, and tears.

Seeing her in just that moment I saw how all those things that are usually hidden inside her are exactly the same kinds of things that I usually have hidden inside me.
I have pains that help me remember the hard things that I have to face and make me who I am.
I have red blood that helps me to remember the sacredness of life and remember the mixing of blood that all the fathers and mothers, and the grand mothers and grand fathers before them, have passed down to make me who I am.
And I have water in me, like the salty tears in my eyes, that help me remember that the earth is mostly covered in the same kind of salty water.
And how the water flows out of the sky, down the mountains, through the rivers and lakes to us
then through us continuing the journey to oceans and
eventually returning to the sky again to start all over.
And that water inside me also makes me who I am.

When I remember all those special things that are inside her and me both,
I realize that she is not really that different, after all.
She is not really one of Them, she is one of Us.
And when she and her people remember that, too, then we are them.
And that is how God wants it to be.

But it is really hard to tell what God wants because
God’s voice is louder than all noises and quieter than silence,
God’s body is bigger than the whole world and smaller than the mote of dust you can only see when the sun shines on it just so,
God points the way faster than light and moves slower than a mountain,
God completely embraces us in the warmest love and gives us the ultimate freedom to be ourselves.
And sometimes we think that our own thoughts and ideas about what is right and good must be God’s ideas, too.
And when everyone, and I mean all of Us and Them,
When everyone agrees
then
it really is true.

Postlude to My Story

Once upon a time we were “better than” them.
Twice upon a time they were “better than” us.
Thrice upon a time we are them and they are us, and we put “better than” away on the highest shelf in the back of our closet, practically lost but not entirely forgotten.

But now the time has come when we have a project to complete and the tool for the job is to compare our options and decide which is “better than.”
The project is how to unify the voices of all humanity to bring about a global harmony that resonates with all creation.
The challenge is to create opportunities for all beings to have wellness.

We have today an unprecedented ability to recognize and honor the wellness of our global ecology, our society, our organizations, us as individuals, our cells and even the molecules that make us up.
With this powerful opportunity for insight across vast scales of magnitude we also have the powerful responsibility to honor this more-than-human world in which we were given existence.

My call to you today is to join me in reviving “better than” as a tool for the transformation of our society from one in which we compare ourselves with each Other by the outward shells of behavior, custom, and circumstances
into a society in which we know we are united by our pain, by the blood we hold sacred and the water that flows in and through both us and our one and only planet to keep us connected and alive.
I ask for your help in transforming our “better than” habit from a tool of oppression and hurtfulness, into a tool of hope and reconciliation.

Let us use the universal language of virtues as both the starting point and end point for understanding the Other’s actions.
Let’s work together to reserve “better than” for comparing the results of our own actions with the well-being we were planning to promote, while giving the Other guy the benefit of the doubt.

I think that God would want it that way.

But remember that it is hard to tell what God really wants because
God’s voice is louder than all noises and quieter than silence,
God’s body is bigger than the whole world and smaller than the mote of dust you can only see when the sun shines on it just so,
God points the way faster than light and moves slower than a mountain,
God completely embraces us in the warmest love and gives us the ultimate freedom to be ourselves.
And sometimes we think that our own thoughts and ideas about what is right and good must be God’s ideas, too.
And when everyone agrees then it really is true.

Regarding Them Commentaries:

Regarding Them Commentary: What About Objective Reality?

Regarding Them Commentary: What About God?

Regarding Them Commentary: What About Morality?

B Collective Public Improvisation Experiment

The following came through me during the first Public Improvisation Laboratory put on by the B Collective at Aldrich's Market in Port Townsend, WA, yesterday April 18th. They are planning to continue the labs on Tuesdays from 2-5PM for the foreseeable future.

I was invited by Nalla Walla of the collective. I arrived some time between 3 and 4, I think. I was having a late lunch of food from the deli downstairs and just took a seat to watch. At 4:30 or so they stopped their to do some writing and invited me to write as well. Here's what I wrote:

Flowing bodies moving in trust through balance
and constantly flirting with imbalance
Tableau- a moment frozen
the bodies hot
it doesn't last
the flow goes on


Thinking through the lense
arranging space and color to capture moments
impossible to hold


Improvisation eating the crunch of chips
the savory fare in dance with moving bodies
eating time consuming space attention to limbs in motion

the audience performing the performers watching
no one knowing their role

chewing on the grist of conflicted emotions
uncertainty about how to feel the right from left

a spoonful of coucous and lentils topped off with the cool tapioca as deliveries move through
the dolly clangs on bump in the floor as we enter into the Experiement of Spontaneous Activity in the public arena.

Santa's New List

Santa’s sitting in his office proudly reviewing a press release about how his operations have finally entered the twenty-first century with the launch of a new NASA-style mission control computer system for making his list and checking it twice.

Just as he is about to put his seal of approval on the release he sees a note slide under his door and hears someone running down the hall. When he reads the note it turns out to be a hand written warning that there could be serious problems with the new computer’s integrity.

Santa is very concerned because he has invested immense amounts of time and energy in this system and hates the idea that he might deliver coal to the wrong stockings. He decides to head to mission control to check on the system directly. Upon arrival he can tell things are not going well.

The Chief Mission Control Specialist is going through an emergency check list on all systems. The young elves who run this elite space-age operation took the 60's NASA geek image seriously so over their green tights they wear white button down shirts with pocket protectors in the breast pocket. Every elf in the room has visible sweat rings emanating from their armpits as they are all frantically pushing buttons to double check every single system or running around to manually cross check the data. There is constant low level din punctuated periodically by shouted reports to the Chief Mission Control Specialist that a particular system is "A-Ok" or "30% operational" or whatever.

Santa puts on his best game face with a warm and reassuring smile of concern as he checks in with his Chief-Elf-In-Charge. But, his Chief-Elf-In-Charge is red-faced and looks like he's about to pass a kidney stone.

Santa figures he’s seen it all, so he plays it cool. "What's the situation, Sparky?"

Sparky, the Chief-Elf-In-Charge is a young 500 years old and has only been at this job for a few years since the last Chief-Elf-In-Charge (who was over 1000 years old) quit in protest as soon as the list checking computer system was approved. So, Sparky takes a deep breath after his Chief Mission Control Specialist finishes giving him a quick status report.

"Well, Santa, it looks like we've got a problem."

"Is that right, Sparky? Is it the computer?"

Sparky replies, "Well, sir, it may not be the computer. We're currently running every diagnostic in the book and several that aren't because the data that we're getting is, um, bizarre."

"What do you mean by 'bizarre,’ Sparky?"

"Well, sir, when we decided to develop the computerized list checking system the programmers were ecstatic that they would have a chance to work with real world systems instead of the usual gaming stuff. So, they decided they should collect real time data to accurately capture the actual complexity of day-to-day living and then run that data through a few well chosen culturally correct morality filters to sort the data and then crunch the resulting numbers to arrive at a clear and appropriate decision about who should receive coal in their stocking instead of presents. Everything was fine until they went to test the system last month.

"What they found was that the system seemed to work very well, except for one small glitch. You see when they do this kind of initial systems test they compare their test output decisions with a control set of data from the old system..."

"Sparky, cut to the chase."

"Well, sir, the old elves from the List Checking, Twice Bureau pointed out that while the computer did a good job with stuff like your basic lying, cheating and stealing, it was completely missing the ability to detect when children would say one thing but actually do another without an outright lie."

"Since hypocrisy is so much more subtle than lying, it had been overlooked in the original design so the input systems had to be redesigned and the programming reworked, which put everything badly behind schedule so when they launched the whole system this morning they went live without having tested the hypocrisy sub-system thoroughly."

"So, you think there is a problem with the hypocrisy sub-system?"

"Well, not exactly, sir."

"Come on, Sparky, I'm a very patient man, or so the legend has it, but you're pushing it aren't you?"

"Sorry, Santa, Sir, I just can't believe the data we're getting."

"So what's the data, then?"

"Well, the programmers for the hypocrisy sub-system had to come up with a way to quantify the hypocrisy in a way that would allow them to calculate each transgression, so they asked the old elves in the List Checking, Twice Bureau for how they dealt with hypocrisy.

"The old elves told the programmers that when they judged hypocrisy it was important to estimate the relationship between the hypocrisy of the society and the hypocrisy of the individual. 'It is a fact of human nature,' they said, 'that the individual cannot be expected to have any less than their fair share of the hypocrisy of the whole society.'"

"Yes, I remember back in the day how it was such a guessing game, at best." agreed Santa.

"So, you see, sir, this means that our computer has to calculate not only the hypocrisy of the individual, but the hypocrisy of the whole society, in order to be fair. And we now have the advantage, for the first time, of calculating a precise ratio. And true to form, the list team came up with a brilliant solution and also discovered that the burden of hypocrisy is a weight on society."

Just then the Chief Mission Control Specialist Elf ran up to the Chief-Elf-In-Charge and frantically whispered a report in his ear and showed him a series of printouts that were on the clip board in his hand.

"Ahhhh, I see.... Ohh? But... Uh-huh," said the Chief-Elf-In-Charge as he heard the report. Finally, he turned back to Santa with a dire look on his face. "I'm really sorry to have drawn this explanation out, but I think it is very important for you to understand the situation completely and I have just gotten the final report on the computer diagnostics."

"And?" said Santa.

"Sir, the computer is working fine, even better than expected actually."

"But, you say that as if it’s not good news?"

"No sir, that means that our data is correct and that the number of people who are saying one thing and doing something different this holiday season is rising extremely fast. The trend is so strong that the whole of human society is going to implode as soon they reach hypocritical mass."

The Gatekeeper

Once long ago, two young travelers met at a crossroads. They had each come from opposite directions but discovered that they were both intent on heading south towards bigger towns that would have better opportunities for young men like them.

The young man who came from the west lamented the poor state of his home village. He said the people there were all stingy and mean. He said they were loose in their morals and that too often they gave into the sensual pleasures of eating, drinking, dancing, and carousing all together.

The young man who had come from the east sympathized with his new companion and lamented that while his town didn't seem to be as bad as that the truth was that there just weren't enough honest girls his age, jobs that suited him, nor the means to find his good fortune in life.

By and by they came over a hill and saw before them down in the valley a town. It was a town bigger than either of their villages had been and had a nice wall around it, meaning that it had to be more prosperous than their undefended villages. Seeing this good sign they quickened their pace a little. As they approached they both looked carefully for signs that would tell them what kind of townsfolk lived there. The young man of the west pointed out everything he saw to his more reserved companion. He noticed some garbage and litter and thought that might mean they were untidy. He saw some people begging and thought they might not care to take care of the poor people, he saw a rowdy looking bunch of teenage boys and thought the town's parents might be too indulgent with their children.

The young man of the east just nodded to acknowledge the comments and kept his observations to himself. As the main gate into the town came before them in the distance the fellow from the west concluded his monologue by saying, "I'm not sure about this town, it has a nice wall but, really, it might not be any better than at home. My dear departed grandmother used to talk about when she was young and traveled about with her father who was the cloth merchant. She said that if you ever have any doubt about a town like this the thing to do is ask the gatekeeper. Gatekeepers know almost everyone in a town and the old ones have been around long enough to spot folks that belong in a place even before they know it themselves."

At last they reached the gate and there sitting next to the gate on a worn old wooden bench was an old old man with a grey beard who looked like he was a tree that had rooted in the rocks of a mountaintop and been weathered by a thousand years of rough and stormy winters. As he snoozed in the warm sun of that calm spring day he was grey, roughly wrinkled and bent over but eternally peaceful in his respite.

The young man of the west cleared his throat loudly and said, "Excuse me old man, but are you the gatekeeper?" Just when the youth had excused himself the gnarled old figure had snapped his eyes open, squinted up a little as he gave his grizzled head a quick shake, then he stood up confidently and with a grace that is normally only expected of much younger men.

The old man stood still and silent for long moment giving the two travelers an appraising look up and down before he replied, at last, "Yes, I am the gatekeeper. What is your business?"

The young man of the west took in a deep breath and then launched into an extended explanation of how he had left behind his poor depraved village in search of the town that would make him happy and contented all the rest of his days. He topped it all off by saying, "So you see old gatekeeper I am on a quest to be a good citizen but I require a town in which I can be in the company of other good citizens. I ask you, who are wise in these matters, is this the town for me?"

The old man let his gaze linger on the young man of the west for a long moment then he suddenly turned to the young man of the east and asked "What is your business?"

Before answering he glanced at his companion to see an expression of surprise and no small amount of annoyance, but seeing that his compatriot was not going to speak the words of discomfiture that played silently over his uncomprehending lips, he said very simply, "I have also left my home village to seek a place of opportunities, to meet honest people and find my good fortune."

The old man nodded silently and sat back down on his bench. He turned to the young man of the west and said, "I think, young sir, that you will find in this town too much of what you left behind. Alas, we in this town are frail and flawed human beings with not enough goodness."

To which the young man of the west immediately replied to his companion, "Ahhh, didn't I tell you as we approached that this town might not be any better than at home! Now you have heard it from the wisdom of the ages and there can be no doubt. Come along my new found friend, I have heard that the next town is twice as wealthy as this with an even greater wall to protect it. Surely the people there must be truly good to be so blessed!"

However, the young man of the east was not ready move on so he thanked the other young man for his company and wished him well in his travels. Anxious to be on his way to find the town of good citizens that would make him happy and content the rest of his days he left with a bemused look and a shake of his head at the foolishness of anyone staying in a town known to be as depraved as this one.

The young man who had come from the east then turned again to face the old man sitting on the bench beside the gate that led into town and asked, "Pray tell me, wise old gatekeeper, is this town right for me?"

The old man invited the weary young traveler to sit beside him on the well worn bench. After they had settled into comfortable positions looking back up the valley watching the other young man disappear as he turned onto the road leading south, the old man said slowly, "I think, young sir, that you will find in this town too much of what you left behind. Alas, we in this town are frail and flawed human beings with not enough goodness." He paused and looked over at the young man, who just waited patiently for the old man to continue. "Young man, if you choose to live in this town you will indeed find what your heart truly seeks, even amongst us frail and flawed human beings with not enough goodness. If you are willing to work you will find opportunities. If you are honest and true you will find honest people. If you take advantage of the opportunities and treasure the honest people you find, then surely your good fortune is to be discovered here."

The two men sat together for a long time and talked about many things before the young man left the old man to enter the town and begin his new life in search of his good fortune. He returned often to visit with the old man. It turns out the old man had inherited the post from his father, but had never married and his last apprentice had gone south in search of a more prestigious gate to keep. One day the young man became an apprentice to the old gatekeeper and soon after took the job when the old man finally died.

In the end he found that the old man was right, he found exactly what his heart was truly looking for even in the midst of a town full of frail and flawed human beings with not enough goodness.