Perspective

In my last posting I approached the topic of allowing my work days to become a "grind' or an assembly line of sorts. I've recently been thinking about this topic as it applies to other areas of my life in Milwaukee.

I had the privilege of hosting one Claire Siegel in my home for 4 days last weekend. It was not only a wonderful slice of home and love and happiness, but also forced me to have a little bit of perspective on my life here. We were talking one night about some of the nuances of community life and how we are all getting along etc, etc. I found myself in a state of discontent with the way some things were going and had a fairly negative tone to my voice. Her response to me however (after a few minutes of what I thought was complaining)  was this:

"Wow, what a beautiful group of people you live with"

With a very simple statement, my perspective shifted. Isn't it true that sometimes it takes an outside voice to help you see beyond the daily habits that might annoy you or small personality traits that build up until you can't stand them anymore? With this conversation I started to notice again how beautiful indeed the people I live with are. Even in the habits that annoy me, there is so much love and intention in these people.

After this conversation, I started to notice other places where a new perspective caught me off guard. One of these places is in the changing weather in Milwaukee. It snowed for the first time last week, and I most certainly took a break from work to run around in it. It was a beautiful day that followed with sunshine and snow. Our house was freezing cold when I got home from work, and I turned the heat on as I walked upstairs and put on comfy clothes and made a cup of tea; a ritual that has become commonplace for many of us as the winter approaches. I came to work the next day and started chatting with one of my patients about how cozy the weather was. Her response to me was this:

"I'm so happy you are enjoying Wisconsin! We can't afford to turn our heat on until it gets real cold. I'm hoping I can find my grandbabies some winter coats so they can sleep."

Again, a simple statement with no hint of disdain or frustration. Just the facts. Now, I think of her each time I turn my heat on, go upstairs, and drink warm tea. I hear myself complain about being cold sometimes. It's like a habit. Weather gets cold, cue complaints. Perspective. I have heat, tea, warm clothing, warm hugs, warm food. A reminder to break that grind and live in habits of gratitude and awareness instead.

One more perspective shift to add to this mix. Climate change and natural disaster are buzz words that are thrown around often, especially with a Jesuit education. Each time destruction hits, I engage in the same pattern: Think and pray for the people affected, express frustration with global warming, and engage in the conversation about relief efforts. This year has offered a new perspective recently, starting with the typhoon that devastated the Philippines last week. One of our roommates has multiple family members who live and work in a town that experienced much devastation. The numbers suddenly became cousins, aunts, and uncles. The relief effort from our house will be funneled directly to a place where someone we care deeply about has childhood memories and people he loves. It is so easy for us to allow suffering that don't personally affect us to become a routine. I often forget that every time disaster strikes there are aunts and cousins and memories. This week has been a humbling realization that I have really never taken enough time to stop and think about what it means for a storm to wipe out a city. Even more recently tornadoes hit the Midwest and destroyed multiple towns this weekend. We were all sitting in the dining room when emergency alerts were sent to our phones and the tornado warning sirens started going off on our street. We were perfectly safe and in all honesty didn't even move to our basement or take any precautions, but it was a small reminder to keep some perspective. For many people close by, those alarms meant total destruction of their homes and neighborhoods.

Be it climate change, community life, privilege, etc., I find it difficult to approach each with a fresh sense of perspective everyday. It is extremely exhausting to allow things to affect and shape us everyday. Most of the time I'd rather let it sit in a pile and build a wall around me so I can keep moving from one thing to the next.

Here's to some fresh perspective making that pile a little smaller this month.