Nov. 3, Monday

It's some kind of national holiday to celebrate the independence of the third largest city.
I've been thinking about time. Our trip has seemed like a long sprint broken up by periods of waiting, kind of like playing soccer. It seems an apt metaphor for a culture. Leslie remarked how we "hurry-hurry-hurry... wait." We seem to squander our resources without thinking, even the one resource we have that is most limited - our time. We rush into life unaware of who we are or where we are going. No surprise that we don't know what's wrong and we don't know how to fix it.
We're here for mission, to do something, make something, accomplish something. Maybe the best gift is to do nothing. Maybe the most important thing we can do is be mindful. The best gift we can offer is our known selves and to accept the offer of the known other.