What do we earn

There's an advertising war raging between Cadillac and Ford about the American spirit and what hard work earns us. Check out the two videos and some analysis here. Basically Cadillac claims Americans work harder (not taking a month off in August) and therefore deserve nicer things. Ford on the other hand says our world is better cause we work harder and for the common good. So, a few questions and my lessons learned:

What do we earn in life? How?
By working hard, loving fully, being smart, taking risks?
What can I expect in return for putting my best into the world?

Recently, these questions came up in conversations with Rachel. My personal experience to relate to these questions is that I feel that I'm pouring my heart, time, and energy into this six-month fellowship with Ultimate Peace. On top of asking the questions about how to have as much impact as I can, I'm asking what can I expect personally in return. Can I expect that others will do their best? Will I see the fruits of my labor and maybe even the direct spoils? Here are a couple of the lessons I'm learning:

Lesson # 1. Its not about me. Especially in nonprofit work, and in most kinds of leadership, its not about me. Its about the mission, the program, the participants and volunteers.

Lesson # 2. My "earnings" perspective is often shaped by the if-then expectation. Basically that what you put into something is returned to you -- in a different form, but on the same scale and easily identified. Examples: put in 40 hours of work a week, get paid for that time; give love and receive love; allow the car in front of you in and be allowed in next time you need it. Yet the world is not always so clear-cut. In fact, it often seems like the effort we put in does not come back to us at all.

What I'm finding (in relationships and in work) is that we need to think beyond how our effort comes back to us, and more onto how our effort goes to others. And not in a tit-for-tat way... that we are giving of ourselves to a common pot (consider it perhaps the "effort pot"). The richer that pot is the better, though it might not be better for you personally, immediately, or even in the material sense.

Unrelated picture from yesterday's UP meeting/practice ahead of the US tour (someone said "jump" just before taking the shot):

Full day at school

The son of my neighbors downstairs plays ultimate. He and his friends introduced me to some folks at their school here in Beit Sahour. On Wednesday I met the principal, one of the sports teachers, and somebody else who was really nice but whose position and name I forgot :-/

Fortunately I got invited back to the school -- they have school on Saturday. And I think every student in the school has P.E. at some point on Saturday (not the case other days). I had asked to see what they do there, thinking it would be helpful to observe the coaches, their styles, and how students play, work with coaches, etc.

So today I was out on the schools' court from 7:30 until 2:00. The morning started with standing in lines by class, all facing forward for announcements, then singing the school song (the older students are of course too cool to sing it). After about ten minutes, everyone was dismissed and dispersed.

The classes were all different - all had a soccer game going on, sometimes there was volleyball, basketball, handball, and frisbee. I got a good mixture of introducing the game, introducing myself (kids are curious about the foreigner, not surprisingly), playing a few minutes of soccer, and watching the classes, in general.

One really great thing at this school is the feeling I get from the older kids. Basically, there's a great couple of years of players in this school - they are anxious to play more, throw more, etc. And they do it where the rest of the school can see. I see it as a huge recruiting tool for the next few years of players. And its just fun to see in and of itself.

Lessons learned: teachers have a very hard job, kids reflect leaders' energy, and say yes if coffee or tea is offered repeatedly. Below is a little video of ultimate today :-)

"Abdul Play"

I recently visited a cabin in north Georgia with Sara and friends from my graduate school program. The ten of us planned to meet at the house in the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

On the way up there Friday night, Sara and I hit some traffic and ended up stopping for groceries after the sun went down. With the week's stress behind us physically, I decided to sit right there in the Food Lion parking lot and meditate. Basically I wanted to rest, and start the weekend relaxed.

Within those couple of minutes, of course several cars drove by. One truck even parked directly in front of us, shining headlights on our probably-odd-looking practice of consciously resting inside the car. And as my thoughts wandered around my day and week, words and sensations started increasing their pace. I briefly felt my legs where they were. And then it happened: 

The words (that I can transliterate as) ABD-ALTAL3AB popped into my head. And before leaving them alone, I questioned where these came from. Why would I would think  those words? Taken together, this roughly means SLAVE OF PLAY... someone who is dedicated to playing. I immediately connected the thought to my ambition to volunteer more seriously with Ultimate Peace in 2014. 

What was really odd about the thought in that moment was that I had never heard this phrase before. Its actually improper Arabic - but the meaning gets across. The second part combines the verb TO PLAY with an article that only accompanies nouns. 

And even crazier that, here on my blog, my most recent post was from last summer at Ultimate Peace camp - and about fun!