Mossy Cottage Knits

Transformation

As always, thank you to my army of Amazons for describing all the life- and genitalia-shortening things they would do to my Demonic Driving Man. This road rage stuff happens to me (who'm I kidding—to everyone) two or three times a year; the difference this time was that I couldn’t come down off that adrenaline “high.”

However, speaking of O. Henry (weren't we?), this story now has its own interesting karmic twist. Late in the afternoon of the day that I posted my story, I received an email from Janine saying she had donated a llama to The Heifer Project in honor of my traumatic experience or, as she put it, in honor of Insane Driver Day.

While, in and of itself, Janine's act of generosity was remarkable, what it ultimately meant was that the man’s desperate, out-of-control, pointless and destructive rage was directly responsible—directly—for improving the life of a poverty-stricken family somewhere else in the world. I just can’t get enough of this chain of events, this chasm-wide leap from blackly negative to supremely positive. I thought about it often over the next two days, and was reminded of another, similar incident.

When I lived in New York, I was mugged at gunpoint in my elevator. The mugger got a ring, $30 and my watch (and almost a new cat litter box, but that’s another story). I was so shaken up by the experience that I had trouble going to work the next day. (This was before I (a) got mugged again, (b) heard countless mugging stories from friends and family, (c) realized that muggings were par for the course in The Big Apple and (d) moved to Seattle because I didn't want to become one of those people who thought it was normal to have mugging war stories.) I called my boss and told him what had happened and that I would be in but that I would be late. Now, my boss was very rich, very sophisticated, very high-society but also a little wacko* so I never knew from day to day what to make of him. We had a civil employer/employee, high society/working-class drudge relationship, no more, no less. On that day, however, when I arrived at the office, he refused to allow me to sit at my desk but, instead, hustled me off for a long, luxurious, expensive lunch and then gave me a beautiful gold watch to replace the one that had been stolen. And then he sent me home.

To this day, because of his healing kindness and generosity, I only have positive memories of the day I faced the business end of a gun (and let me tell you, that hole is big and dark when it is pointed right at you). And now, thanks to Janine, that same thing is happening with Road Rage Day. I would just say to everyone, never underestimate the power you have to turn a crushing negative into an uplifting positive. Everyone has in them the ability to perform small miracles for the people around them.

If you live in the Sedona/Flagstaff, AZ, area, F.I.R.E. is having a fund raiser this weekend. Here are the details:

"The Second Annual FIREWORKS, Fine Art Show and Auction is Saturday November 19, 2005, from 7-9 PM. All proceeds go to help support the projects of the Flagstaff International Relief Effort, currently working in Mongolia, Pakistan, and Arizona. There are 16 hand selected Mongolian paintings, as well as 5 donated photographs and paintings from American artists such as David Edwards, John Running and Michael Nichols, and a traditional Kazakh ger (yurt) available for auction.

Hand-made, Mongolian, felt and embroidered bags, wool rugs and small original pieces of Mongolian modern art are available for purchase. The items can be viewed Wed – Sat or anytime by appointment at Photography on the Square, on the east side of Heritage Square in downtown Flagstaff. Please call 928-779-1966 for more information."

On that note, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I will be on vacation next week, so no postings, Dear Readers.

*One day I overheard him talking on the phone and saying grandiose things like, "Have your people call my people," but I could clearly hear that what he was listening to was a recorded weather report. Hew wasn't, in fact, talking to anybody. Huh.

Posted by Ryan at November 18, 2005 10:10 AM