Lending a Helping Hand

Have you been to visit the other Crane Project? I check in every so often to see what’s going on with Judy, and recently, she’s been hitting a wall. She’s having a hard time staying motivated. I can understand that. Sometimes it’s hard when your goal is immense or far away.

Crane Updates

• Location: Starbucks, Saugus, Massachusetts
• Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008
• Description: This crane is naked!  It was folded out of purple paper by a man named Larry, who organizes the peace vigils on the town green, and left by Roy, who (I think) was the one to write my blog address on the underside of the wing.

At this past Saturday’s peace vigil, the one I didn’t attend, Larry handed out peace cranes to all the peace-niks who attended, with explicit instructions: blanket the town.  It’ll be a great day when I walk into a store on main street and see a paper crane tucked into a corner somewhere.  I’m looking forward to it.

Not only that, but I meandered over to the other Crane Project and saw this article featuring Judy’s work.  It’s exciting to see a fellow crane blogger featured in a local newspaper — particularly one in the same region of the same state.  Hurray!

And now for the bad news: I thought I was well enough to go to work today.  Unfortunately, my body did not agree.  I survived eight hours sitting at my desk, but by the time I came home, my head was pounding and my ears were ringing, and I had to miss the after-hours event we had planned for tonight.  I’m starting to think this is a sinus infection.  I’ve never had a sinus infection before.  Time to call my friendly neighborhood PCP, eh?  We’ll see how this goes.  It’s new for me to be sick with something that’s not migraine-related.

A Weekend for Thought

• Location: Kame Restaurant, Beverly, Massachusetts
• Date: Friday, May 30, 2008
• Description: Reddish yellowish crane with the Metta Prayer written on it.

Here’s another crane from Roy at Return to the Center.  Don’t worry, I haven’t given up folding and leaving cranes — Roy just has some very nice ones.  And I like to make the cranes last throughout the week.  But here’s the text to the Metta prayer:

May you be peaceful.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you awaken to the light of your true nature.

May you be free.

With his usual kindness, Roy wrote my blog address inside the crane — I believe you have to unfold the crane to read it, but I’m not entirely sure.  I tend to put my blog address on the underside of the wing.  If I found a crane and was really curious and knew how to refold cranes, I might unfold the one I found to read the whole quote.  I’ve often wondered what the people who find the cranes do.

This weekend, Seth and I headed up to our old college for a memorial for a friend who died before graduation a few years ago.  It was a sweet ceremony.  The school installed a granite bench with our friend’s name on it, and we dedicated it with rose petals and memories.  It was sweet.  It made me think a lot about death and the possibility of an afterlife, and how and why we choose to remember people.  I don’t often think about these things.  Maybe I should.

In a turn of events, I have to say that this blog is not fulfilling it’s original purpose, which is to help me get healthy and stress-free.  I often feel stressed if I don’t have a crane picture for the day or a peace-related item to talk about, and the whole point of starting to fold cranes was to get me to slow down and relax.  Which means I will be blogging less about peace.  I’ll still fold cranes and write things and leave them and encourage everyone else to fold cranes, but I will also write more about my life.  However, you can read about peace through the categories along the right side of the page.  When you click on the “Discussing Peace” category, you’ll be taken to all of my posts talking about peace more in-depth.  It’s pretty cool.  I like to think that my categories are self-explanatory.

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• Location: Kids’ Section, Staples, Danvers, Massachusetts
• Date: sometime in the last few days
• Description: royal blue crane with this quote by Peace Pilgrim: “This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.”

Seth came up with the title for today’s post.  How nice of Mr. Obstreperous.

I received an email today from Liz who wrote the most recent guest post.  Here’s what she said to me: “Your site is so awesome, and the idea is so simple and PROFOUND.”

It’s nice to get a little affirmation of what I’m doing, especially from someone I admire so much.  One of my flaws is that I have lots of interests and only so much attention span, which means I go from interest to interest without warning, and sometimes I feel like I’m never committed enough to do everything.  It can be very discouraging.

In addition to Liz, I received another great email from Roy at Return to the Center.  Here’s what he had to say: “I have to tell you – I find your blog to be very inspirational.”  Two uplifting emails in one day!  I must be very lucky.  Maybe it’s the second batch of beer bread I just pulled out of the oven.  Maybe I have nice friends.  Today’s crane comes courtesy of Roy.  He was kind enough to write my blog address on the inside of the cranes he left.  Here’s the second:

• Location: Hangar Restaruant, Amherst, Massachusetts
• Date: unknown, sometime in the last few days
• Description: Mint green crane with a quote (poem?) by Bishop Oscar Romero on it

Here’s the poem Roy chose for this crane:

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent revolt of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution
of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.

Today felt like a teaspoon day.  I just read this post earlier.  How appropriate that I can relate.

It’s All Coming Back to me Now

• Location: near the elevator, some building that I’ll probably never visit again
• Date: May 20, 2008
• Description: Orange crane with a ridiculous mini peace sticker on one wing

I see what Familiar Face meant when she said her blog was being stupid and wouldn’t let her post pictures. Mind won’t either. I mean I upload a photo and name it and everything, and then when I click the “insert into post” button, the dialog box turns white and nothing happens. I’ll have to try again tomorrow. [Update: I was able to post the picture!  Weird for WordPress to fritz out like that.]

I was walking a few blocks to the post office today when I saw a building in which I could leave a crane. So I did. I left the crane on the chair rail near the elevator buttons. It was a pretty crane, with an bright, crazy-looking peace sticker on it. I’d post a picture so you could see, but you know how it is. The peace sticker was decorated with what looked like a teenie-bopper hippie’s idea of camo pattern. It was ridiculous. I found it in my sticker collection. Yes, I have a sticker collection.

So, bad news. Senator Kennedy, one of my senators, has a malignant glioma. This is not good on several levels. First, he has a brain tumor. That’s always bad. Second, he’s my senator and he’s a Kennedy and he’s been in politics for 40+ years, and what will the U.S. (not to mention Massachusetts) do without a Kennedy at the national level? And third, I guess this means he won’t be minding the peace crane I sent him.

Well, this hasn’t turned out to be the most productive of days. For your trouble, here is an excellent David Hasselhoff music video of him singing “Hooked on a Feeling.” I recommend you watch it and laugh hysterically for the next 20 minutes. Good luck.