Youth in Asia and saying goodbye in any language

This week has brought many hellos and goodbyes bubbling up like messages from a deep, deep ocean.  I haven't been in the ocean much this summer as the season changes and it is harder to go out by myself.

I am no "Intruder In The Surf" (http://surfandthefury.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html) but rather a human trying to wash my sins away in the salty brine of the great sea's energy.  My "friends" and family seem to have scattered and though it has been shocking to feel what it feels like when people admire your courage, watch you on your raft floating on the water and don't call the Coast Guard, it is the reality.  People have things to do and places to go, don't they?  The last thing they want is an unemployed person dragging them down.  How many of us are feeling this on this Friday in July, 2011?

A frank discussion yesterday with my interviewer about euthanasia led to a new understanding for me about how animal shelters decide who stays and who goes.  For them they must make these decisions which we would rather not know and for which we would rather objectify them in very, very harsh terms.  They are out gatekeepers though and we ask them to illuminate the exit sign for so many animals that we selfishly create and then abandon.  Most people won't even tell us that they are leaving us behind although we know it before we are left standing in the wake of their SUV-iPhone-run-you-down-in-the crosswalk-while I speed-away lifestyle.

The unemployed aren't just wooden objects on the Ouija board of life, though it can feel like you have reached the Hotel California where your nightmare of getting into the lobby and then never finding the door out plays over and over again in your life.  We are humans, needing company, needing others to believe in us when we stop believing in us, needing cups of coffee bought by employed friends who still love us, needing emails and hallmark cards and most of all needing contact with other humans.  We need hellos.  Yes, it is a big job and you are just the person who could make a difference for someone struggling to find meaningful work.  Call the Coast Guard, send the card, write the email every week, call, text, whatever.  Walk in our shoes.  Don't forget us. 

And so it is that I am remembering my friend Ms. P. on the eve of my friend's memorial tomorrow, I remember her and all that she shared in her life to teach others and share her passion of directing us all to higher peaks from which she viewed life.  Ms. P. died on 6/21/11 and I was able to wave hello and goodbye from the doorway. I did so in my inner language which she understood so well.  I shall miss her forever and a day.  Tomorrow we shall commemorate her life and we shall be saying goodbye in any language. May the "road rise with you" Ms. P.