Stunning Negligence 4/9/06

At the end of the discussion following the previous post, it came down to the difference between wisdom and time. Wisdom is infinant and the wisdom that belongs to or springs forth from one, in no way takes away from the uniquely individual wisdom of another. We can fill the world with it, and new wisdom springs from the connections that are created between us when we interact. I wish that I could say the same for time. Time is all too finite and much harder to share. I didn't have much time for my online relationships this week. We closed the little deal with the licensee, not one moment too soon. All the rents are up to date, including catching up on the back Katrina rent for the apartment in New Orleans and we were able to get all of the oldest's tuition paid so he can graduate, but, in the course of closing, I spent Tuesday nose-to-nose (virtually, via email) with their attorney in an adrenaline laden conflict, which I won. Now, I've spent the last eighteen months coming off of an extended period of adrenaline poisoning, brought on by a long and painful marital relationship that had devolved into nothing but anxiety and fear for me and by a bloody brutal patent fight we played way too close to the edge. While we still hold our patents and they continue to be of value, it cost us our business, our home and any appearance we might have maintained (whether or not that appearance was valid or honest) of normalcy. In the course of closing our deal last Tuesday, I tasted that adrenaline again, and since the brief period of energized exhilaration it brought, I've been sick, plodding through with barely the energy to function. I think that my previous experience with adrenaline poisoning has left me with an adrenaline allergy. I do not like it. I would really like to get around to read what's been written these recent days by the blogging community that surrounds me, but, if I do that I won't write this, and write this is what I need to do. Even knowing the abundance of wisdom that awaits me, doesn't give me enough time to go find it, at least this day. *sigh* It's not surprising to me that we're a nation with attentional issues, a nation of big dramatic personalities, prone to depression, in need of medication to attend, to be calm, to stay focused and get organized, because we're all descended from people who faced great danger to come here, each having their own reasons for leaving their homes, some fleeing, but we are a nation of their ancestors. We are perhaps braver than we are wise, and we seem, as a nation, to have a hard time staying a course, any course, without losing interest, finishing the work that needs to get done, prone to distraction, finding it more in our nature to not see, look away, move on to something else because we just don't have the time. There is a mess in my kitchen, and another in my closet, and another in the back of my car and another in our portfolio of intellectual property (and this blog ain't lookin' so great, either), but none of them compares to the mess in New Orleans, from which so many find it so much easier to just avert their eyes, while the comforting normalcy, or the appearance thereof, that we can see in one tiny part of that town, the Sliver by the River, makes it possible for the world to say, "See, New Orleans is back! They are okay!" But we have a unique opportunity, enabled by the vast interconnectedness of numerous and varied online fora, to join our collective voices into a chorus that cannot be denied or ignored and shout from the rooftops of our blogs, just as Dangle did, SOS Katrina We Are Not OK. Because it simply isn't true. New Orleans is not OK and, with a growing abundance of information and ideas, there is no coherent plan for achieving OK, or funding OK, tomorrow, or this summer, or ten years from now, and those who haven't seen it simply cannot imagine, and even those of us who try to understand the complexity of the issues that face this city have a hard time getting our minds around the problem, let alone seeing any kind of possible reasonable solution. It's like trying to grasp smoke, but I remain convinced that it's the moral obligation of each of us to continue to try, to support our fellow citizens living there, or trying to get back to live there, not only because it's the good and right thing to do but because one day, something similar, whether made by man or nature, or both, could happen to any one of us. What's happened to and happening in New Orleans is so big and so complicated and so difficult to comprehend, that it's simpler and more within our nature to look away, distracted by our lives, hindered by a stunning shortage of time. Hopefully today you'll find the time to wander over to Chicory's and watch Kalypso's video to see the beauty of the people and the city and its music and culture as they struggle amidst the aftermath, a mess, noble and poignant in their efforts, adults and children, not okay. Peace, out, ya'll.