3 Cups of Tea

I enjoyed Greg Mortenson's tale of building schools for girls in Afghanistan and combating terrorism, racism, and poverty.  I even continued to feel sympathy and compassion for all involved after Jon Krakauer wrote his digital expose "3 Cups of Deceit" detailing how much of the story was a myth created by a self-aggrandizing odd duck.  Don't get in the middle of dueling mountaineers, they are notoriously cranky.

My own tale is a more humble version having nothing to do with a global vision and everything to do with my internal descent into chaos.  This morning I woke at 5:30 from a dream that featured me frantically trying to dial my husband at work on a rotary phone and a cranky operator coming on the line telling me that "those phones" don't work anymore and that I would have to drive over and give him the message.  Am I the phone?  Most likely.  I do a little negotiating with myself in the morning....5 more minutes and just forget about picking out jewelry.  5 more minutes after that, you can just buy lunch at work.  There is a lot of wheeling and dealing with part of me that really just wants to sleep, a bunch more. 

Still so tired, I made some tea and put it into Cup #1.  Just as I was about to drink it, a great debate ensued about the application for ski club that had a hard and fast deadline of "right this minute".  No tea for me, time to drive to work.  I poured tea into Cup #2 and headed out the door.  As I sat in the driver's seat, I realized that I had chosen a cup with no lid.  Cup #3 was chosen from several possibilities because the content was still liquid.  

Lately, I have felt combative, restless, and astray from my path.  When those feelings wash over me, I return to the writings of those who have travelled for many lifetimes:

Drinking Tea

This cup of tea in my
two hands,
mindfulness is held uprightly.
My body and mind dwell
in the very here and now.                     Thich Nhat Hanh

Even if you have to do it three times:)

There are moments

I am reading a great book entitled "3 Cups of Tea....." by Greg Mortenson. This is a story of a climber who stumbles upon a Pakistani village while stumbling off an unsuccessful K2 summit attempt. He decides to raise money to build schools and the tale is about how he goes about accomplishing that task.


Early in the book, one of the villagers greets him with the Balti saying "Chisele"...loosely translated, this means "what the hell." I find this to be such a sensible greeting.

Today, as I was rushing around school, trying to fit everything in, I went past the ISS (in school suspension) room. This is where kids are sent for the day when they have told a teacher to F-off, thrown something, or generally gone down the wrong path. There, sitting in ISS, were all the members of my anger management group. Quite a feat, really.

Chisele. Also a very sensible ending.