RIP Story: October 19th, 2024

As I sit and watch the ripples, I tell myself that this is the Chaos of nature. The turbulence of a small stone thrown into a still pool breaks what was otherwise a serene postcard of nature. BUT, the calm will return shortly as the ripples spread over the surface of the pool. Nature handles turbulence by spreading the chaos over a wide area.

I have to leave this place soon and I think about the turbulence that awaits my return. We are a big pool, the people I live with, the neighborhoods we build, the connections and support systems we have in place. We should be a big pool of people that manage all the turbulent stones but why does it feel like forces under the surface that keep the waters turbulent?

Maybe we are all our own pool or maybe we are the stones? If we are our own pool, the turbulence of a stone that lands directly in our pool might be more than the banks of my pool can handle. If we are the stones, whose pool are we being thrown into and who is throwing us around?

As I sit here, watching the ripples find their calm, I find my own. Even if it is temporary. I find a calm that I want to find again. I could look for answers to my questions, but we all know the answers. The solution lies in the imaginations of those who would stop throwing stones for long enough to let others see what serene looks like. It’s when the ripples become part of the art that we are free to toss a stone. Serene with a sprinkle of chaos is better than serenity lost in a sea of willful chaos.

I will watch both of these sunsets, and I will bask in the serenity of the pool, the chill in the air and the sound of bugs warming up for their nightly background song.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.

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