January 7, 2010

Let me start 2010 with what I wrote in January, 2009 (but
never published):

The jet gliding down on to the Hudson was my return to hope.
Days before the inauguration, this landing was auspiciously metaphorical for us
all. Our country, as well as the world, seems to have lost its engines, its
power and we are taking a global nosedive – economically, spiritually, and
physically. Our destruction of our physical world (and who knows where geese
and their seeming lack of migration fits into this) gives us global warming. Economically,
greed has run us dry. Spiritually, we have the hubris to believe that God is on
“our side” against whatever “them” fits our egocentric system.

How comforting to see that instead of us all crashing like
Icarus from a grandiose flight of melting wings that tumbles us to a tragic
destiny, we instead have a human consciousness of leadership that integrates
wisdom to land us safely onto water. Okay stretch the metaphor even further. We
are stunned by this icy plunge – traumatized and wounded yet alive. The icy
water shocks us into ourselves, and helpers surround us coming quickly to our
rescue. Ferry boats, their employees and their passengers, the Coast Guard and
all the wondrous things they do all arrive to welcome our survival.

This was an actual event in time, yes. Yet I believe the
timing is significant as well. Days before a historical inauguration of
profound significance we may allow ourselves the pleasure of making this event
part of our own psychological journey into hope.

We are, the world is, wounded and stumbling and we do need
an icy plunge into the river of reality to know there is much that needs to
change if we are to bequeath this planet to our children and grandchildren. Wake
up world – the crises we have created have become our opportunities for
re-creation. We can consider the common good of all – not the few – again. We
can consider that while conflict will always be part of the human condition,
violence is not. That non-violent means to resolve conflict is the high road to
be taken. That we are not isolates each in our own little universes – we are
all connected in a web of life. Ignoring our wanton ways with the planet wounds
us all.

The icy plunge of a plane into the Hudson was our collective
wake up call. Wise leadership guided that craft to its safe landing; others who
could help saw the need and responded. Consider our new leadership with
President Obama in the White House – he has been given the task to guide us
through these difficult times; we need to respond where we can, and at the very
least we need to wake up to what has become our own icy plunge. Alive, but no
longer living the grandiosity of adolescent Icarus.

January, 2009, started with hope. We’ve had numerous
metaphorical icy plunges since then, both in our personal lives, and in the
world.So, what do I hope for in 2010?

One, recognize that disagreements and conflict are a part of
life at every level from the individual to the family to the world. Yet, also
recognize that dialogue and understanding, rather than violence and revenge and
retaliation, are the tools we need to settle our differences.

Two, look for our heroes and heroines in all the right
places. Do look to those large figures such as Nelson Mandela (I recommend the
movie, Invictus), who prod us to find our own greatness. Then indeed note your
greatness and that of the invisible hero next to you. What isn’t heroic about
the consistent care of a nursing assistant who wipes bottoms and then some? Or
the cleaning crew for the turnpike bathroom? Or the trash collector? Consider
how life would be without the heroics of the everyday? Forget the “reality”
shows. Forget the addiction to superficial celebrity. They are meant to
distract us from the real life of putting one foot in front of the other and
carrying on.

As the Buddhists say, what do you do before Enlightenment?
“Chop wood, carry water.” What do you do after enlightenment? “Chop wood, carry
water.” In other words, we are not transported to another realm, we just manage
to see better what is already here, life now to be lived and loved.

* Kayta Curzie Gajdos holds a doctorate in
counseling psychology and is in private practice in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
She welcomes comments at MindMatters@DrGajdos.com
or 610-388-2888. Past columns are posted to www.drgajdos.com

Whew …we made it!  A whole week into the new decade.

Remember our biggest fear on New
Years Eve 1999? The long dreaded Y2K “bug” destined to paralyze the world’s
computer systems because the two-digit representation of 2000, or “00” didn’t
figure in computer-speak.

But the next morning we heaved a
collective sigh of relief for dodging the bullet of the new decade–or so we
thought–never dreaming of the horror that would befall the World Trade Center
20 months later…

…Never dreaming that the walk
from airport luggage check-in to concourse would become a maze of security
checks from which we would emerge, literally, in our stocking feet…

…Never dreaming that trusted
financial institutions had not learned the most basic lessons of 1929 and that
the 18-month downward spin of our stock market would all but close banks and
mortgage companies whose names were synonymous with American capitalism…

…and never dreaming that this
decade of fear would close with hope, in the person of our first
African-American president.

Perhaps we didn’t have enough
dreamers or people of vision.

So I asked some people of vision
what they see for Chadds Ford in the next decade.

At the moment, Linda Kaat,
President of the beleaguered Brandywine Battlefield Board, is understandably
pessimistic due to last year’s massive state budget cuts.

“Well, that future is here and I don’t like what I’ve seen,” she
said.

So needing some inspiration, Kaat traveled to Mt. Vernon, Virginia, home
of George Washington, and found: 

“Mt Vernon’s gift shop has reduced George Washington into a Disney
character… he has his own bobble head doll. It was insulting,” she said. “If
a major grant from a foundation would save [the Brandywine Battlefield
Park] could The Comcast Battlefield be far behind?

“I pray in ten years, we will have our priorities in
place and that over commercialization and materialism will be in check
and the next generation will have found the lost respect
for our heroes and history.”

But the battlefield board has an ally in Jim Duff,
Executive Director of the Brandywine Conservancy and Brandywine River Museum
who said in addition to preserving art, “… I hope to see the Brandywine
Conservancy preserve enough additional open space in the Brandywine watershed
to assure adequate supplies of healthy drinking water and to secure for
posterity the remaining open spaces of the Brandywine Battlefield.”

And Sue
Minarchi, new president of the 8-room Sanderson Museum on Creek Road, now
undergoing major restoration said, “Over the next ten years, the Sanderson
Museum will continue revitalization toward becoming a most unique
small museum experience.  We look
forward to sharing our wonderful collection of [Brandywine Valley] art and
historic artifacts with the residents and visitors to our beautiful area so
that they may share a glimpse of history as seen through one man’s eyes.”  

Summing it up for our whole
community, Duff added, “I hope to see all residents of Chadds Ford and the
Brandywine Valley understand and appreciate the extraordinary role this region
has played in American history and traditions. It is for these purposes that
many people and organizations that have worked together must continue to do so
through the next decade and beyond.”

History, art, land and
preservation. To borrow a line from “High School Musical”… “We’re all in this
together”… and Chadds Ford, the future is here.