I had a work event this past weekend in a team member’s building in the city.  It was like stepping back in time.  After hearing the stories about family and how they gathered together making memories and the way they spent time with each other, this building and this group was the physical embodiment of that era.  I love witnessing other cultures and this was a European culture where they still focus on things like this—they don’t fall into the distractions like we do.  They still care for each other.  We try to be polite and they simply do the thing.  We arrived late due to parking so we tried to quietly stand at the back of the room to not draw attention and the people there still brought out chairs and told us to eat.  This was all direct communication with each other meaning they were having discussion, there wasn’t a phone to be seen except for transactions related to the event.  They didn’t waste any of their time on distraction.  They take care of themselves and each other and they don’t let time get away from them—if it can be done now, we do it now.  Why wait?   

We have a lot of movement in our culture but there is very little doing at the end of the day.  I’m not trying to say it was better in a different age (there were many horrible things less than 100 years ago) but there was certainly a different priority.  So communication and gatherings and work are not like they used to be.  We talk a lot, we puff, we boast, but the follow through is key.  We talk about taking care of each other but all of the things we do seem to counteract that.  We can barely care for ourselves and we spend a lot of time in survival.  There was a determination to get things done that I spoke about the other day that we truly don’t have.  We are good at appearing busy but we aren’t actually doing anything.  We are waiting for the right opportunities instead of creating them, like we can order it off of Amazon and have it show up.  We might have connection to the world but we aren’t connected to each other—and that is the difference.  They ARE connected to each other which gives them more awareness of need.

I don’t think any of us want to go back in time, especially to an era so blatantly determined to oppress and remain unaware of basic human rights.  But what I think we are looking for is a different level of connection.  We want genuine connection and support.  We are looking for community even if it’s within our own walls.  When we know we are supported we are able to be whole and we are able to live our lives.  There is freedom in that. There’s a reason that as soon as we put power aside the very thing we are looking for, prosperity and love and joy, suddenly become visible. It becomes about the thing itself and we find what we are really looking for—peace and connection.  It’s because we aren’t focusing on distractions or misplacing our energy seeking power over peace.  We go further the more we are able to support each other.  Even if we don’t have that support in our immediate family, we can create that support with our community.  It’s all about priority and the things we choose to carry.  Carry love before pride and purpose before power and see how the world shifts.