Making small talk with the framer about the destination of these prints, and my recent transition got him talking about working downtown too, and we went way beyond appreciating Portland's weirdness when he started going on about how aggressive the panhandlers are, and how soft Portland is on them. There had been an article in the city paper some weeks ago with the headline "Would Rudy Giuliani Put Up With This?" or something. He even went in the back room to get the paper, to show me how he thought the ostensibly homeless fellow in the cover photo even had an iPhone. To be fair, his issue was with people he thought were not in fact needy or homeless, but were merely affecting the lifestyle -- young people with ripped clothing and very expensive guitars.
Diane Eshin Rizzetto in her book Waking Up To What You Do, discusses the Precepts like a lighthouse. It doesn't tell you what to do or not do; it alerts you to dangerous waters. You are free to change course, or, if needed, proceed to shore with caution. It is there to remind you to Look! Listen! Pay attention!
So I've waded into this conversation, and I can see and hear the lighthouse image! Wonderful! Now what? Well, she advises us (during or after the interaction) to check our body sensations, emotions, and try to tease out the story that we are telling ourselves.
Body sensations - a little tension in the muscles, a little fidgety, eyes wandering more.
Emotions - a little anxious.
Thoughts - Wanting to connect with this guy, and also not wanting to denigrate a whole population of people in the process.
So now what? Change the subject? I am really terrible at that. I think I said some mild thing like 'Gosh, it's really something we have to work with all the time, huh. ' Not my finest hour, but also not playing into a conversation I probably would have felt worse about later.
What would you have said?
My husband is the frontrunner on this question: "Yeah, that iPhone probably made him homeless! AT&T and all their charges!"
No comments:
Post a Comment