July Dispatches 7/21/05

A big pack of boys I know (not really boys, more young men, 17-22 years old), including two of mine, went down to the Hifi Buys Amphitheater (f/k/a Lakewood) to see Dave Matthews, last week. Some had tickets and others did not, but they went anyway, just hoping to enjoy the carnival atmosphere, the food and souvenir court, knowing just the right spots from which to listen to the open-air concert, even if they couldn’t see it. They were ecstatic to be treated to Phish front man, Trey Anastasio, joining Dave Matthews and his band for part of a set. I wish I could have seen that (or at least heard it). ********************** We finally finished baseball (at least as far as my work is concerned), the twelve-year-old tournament, the first round of the biggest sporting event in the world. It started out as a fiasco, and not just because of the rain. In fact, in some ways, at least early in the first week, the rain helped, taking out of the hands of the district staff and the hierarchy above us, the decision as to whether or not to continue play or to halt it while we sorted through the pieces of a dispute that looked to me something like a train wreck. Things settled a bit, as first the irritant and the accusers, then the complainers, were eliminated and we ended up with, without question, the two best teams in the finals. The "other" team won (although I work hard to be impartial, I do have a "home" park), after being down by a run with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the last inning. It was exhausting, but fun. ********************** Work is interesting, and I am enjoying it, but I don’t think I want to do this for a real long time. I like my main boss, the managing partner, but I question whether or not the operation is scalable, as is. I think the problem is the way his partner, my long-time associate, the one who found and hired me, interacts. I’ve come to believe that personality, or spirit, is everything, and that nothing else matters. If one interacts openly with honesty, in a spirit of generosity, then that’s all that matters. Everything else will be resolvable without too much damage to anyone. Paranoia and defensiveness are destructive. Even simple dysfunction, manifested in expectations of getting needs met without having to ask for it (expecting others to be mind readers), or lying about stupid things that don’t even need lies, or caring way too much more about how things look than about how they really are, can rot a relationship or a family or a business, from the inside out. ********************** Saturday morning, on our joyously unhurried (as opposed to the rush during the week) walk, Daisy and I encountered tiny floating fuchsia balls of minute crepe myrtle blossom clusters, knocked down by the rain, and tumbling above the stone speckled slate gray asphalt in a sudden breeze, because our brisk trot approached. It was really beautiful.