Dearest Rachel –
Not that it’s germane to anything else going on, but I feel the need to send you greetings on this, the fifty-fourth month since your departure. It’s been four and a half years at this point, and more often than not, the twenty-third of the month still gets my attention in a way that I really wish would be otherwise. Then again, I wish a lot of things were other than they were…
…anyway, with that having been said, I should get on with filling you in about the day just gone by (as the day to come, with its attendant concerns, hasn’t happened yet – although I might just bring it up regardless, as its concerns are a concern to me).
As you can guess from the title of this letter, I was kept busy – although I certainly can’t claim to be the only one, by any measure. Sure, there was the short trip to the bakery, but that didn’t take up nearly as much time as all that. Once we’d returned, there was a class about making career choices, based on things the kids liked and wanted to do with their lives, and I was called in to add my two cents about my chosen field.
The weird thing was that most of the options discussed had to do with what one could do for one’s country and one’s God (through the likes of Just One). You had your teaching and medical professions, as well as those that build and grow things for all to use. Noble professions, all. It made me consider that mine is somewhat mercenary in nature, and not at all what one thinks of when one seeks a higher calling in their career.
And yet, at the same time, the world runs on money, as you would sing, quoting Cabaret:
The fact of the matter is, any operation needs to keep track of the funds coming in and going out, to make sure that the latter doesn’t exceed the former for a ruinous length of time. As much as I found myself having to confess that it doesn’t have the same noble sheen to it that would appeal to idealistic youngsters that the others do, it’s a necessary profession – and a ubiquitous one. An accountant can work for a company in any one of a number of different fields, after all; some of which have a nobility of their own that turns this otherwise mercenary field into an honorable one by association. And, let’s face it; one also needs to have a certain amount of integrity to work properly in this field, as one is entrusted with other people’s money, and it’s incumbent upon us to help steward it.
Some of this I managed to explain in the moment; some of this I didn’t think of at the time; and some of this would have been counter-productive to go into detail on, as it would sound like I was warning the kids away from my profession. It was a mixed bag, is what I’m saying. It gets me a little nervous about today’s classes, which I’ll be leading – and without a nice fancy PowerPoint presentation to do it with.
Then again, it would be pointless to prepare a fully-formed spreadsheet for the kids to see; it would be like one of those episodes of the French Chef, where Julia Child would pull out a fully prepared dish from the oven, showing what a finished recipe would look like, without going through all the steps (which, to be fair, had to be excluded for the run time of the show, but still…) Best to walk them through the creation of their own work, and hope things sort out properly as we go.
***
Between classes, I found myself at a loose end for something to do. I knew there was plenty out there, but the construction team was out making more pilas already and the medical team already had their medications unpacked and repackaged, to the best of my knowledge.
After asking about, I was directed to the workshed on the opposite side of the main building. It so happened that Jim – the fellow whose tools I had helped bring down in my suitcase – had been cutting wood to be assembled into simplified Adirondack chairs. Harrison (one of the local boys) and I were tasked with the assembly of the chair backs; putting together three boards to make a frame, and four small planks to form the actual back of the chair, all by drilling holes into the wood for us to place screws in to fasten everything together. We put together about ten of these chair backs before the next class started, and I was once again called on to explain my career as a choice for the kids to consider.
***
The final activity of the day (well, apart from heading out as a group to eat at a place that basically served all of the meats, but that’s basically the story) was a soccer game involving both the Bridge volunteers and the kids from Just One. Thankfully, it wasn’t the kids against the grown-ups – they would have clobbered us, and no mistake – but I was informed that, as one of the rookies of the Bridge team, it was incumbent upon me to play; sitting on the sidelines was not an option.
I’m assuming that the insistence was meant as a mild form of hazing; if I truly didn’t think I could hack it, I’m sure I would have been permitted to sit out the game. But I didn’t see any reason not to get in there, despite being one of the older folks there; as true as that may be, I don’t really feel like I am – especially after the health regimen I’ve been putting myself through over the past couple of years – and so I was perfectly capable of getting out there and putting in as much effort as possible.
Now, was I particularly good at the game? Hardly. I don’t have the ball control that the kids (who were raised on the Beautiful Game, after all) do. For my part, my contribution included a few blocks here, a few steals there, and a header or two when the ball came to me in unexpected circumstances. It was all just a matter of trying to be in the right place at the right time to advance the ball forward. It was like being a peg in a foosball game (which is just soccer in a cabinet, when you think about it). You had to be where the ball might go, so you could kick it either away from your goal or toward the opposing goal if it wound up in your vicinity. That’s not being redundant, by the way – attacking requires more accuracy than defending; the latter is more “get the ball out of here!” while the closer you get to the goal, the more you have to direct the ball both toward it and away from the opposing players. I can see why it’s popular as a participatory sport, although I’m still not sold on it as a spectator’s game.
So yeah, I was put through my paces yesterday; now, I get to find out if I can keep up that pace. To that end, I’ll thank you to keep an eye on me again today, honey, and wish me luck; I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 