When Nelson and I applied to the Peace Corps two years ago, we waited a month and were given a possible assignment to the South Pacific. All we had to do was get all our medical stuff in within the next six months or so. Getting that medical clearance took longer and our slot in the South Pacific was given to someone else. In January, we were told that if we would expand what we were willing to do and where we were willing to go, we stood a better chance of getting a posting. Even though we initially said we didn’t want to be teachers and we didn’t want to go to Africa, it appears that we might be teachers in Africa. We've been told that we might be in southern Africa and now it might be western Africa. Since January, I’ve been under the impression that we would hear any moment about where we will be going. Waiting for the phone to ring for four months is exhausting. I’ve discovered that I have a two-week threshold before I have to call and hear that we will be called as soon as they know anything. It’s like releasing steam from a steam valve. I’ll be calling tomorrow or Monday. I’ve also begun to take a hard look at this waiting period, since it may be as close as we actually get to become part of the Peace Corps. I spend time each day reading at least one PC volunteer blog from Benin or Mali. Today is Mali. The blogs are encouraging and disturbing….great friends made, heat, dancing, disease. The more I read the more I hope that we are up to the task. This week I’ve been looking for folktales that reflect what I’m feeling. Here are some I have found:
The Blind Men and the Elephant…I feel that I only have pieces of what to expect and each one defines the experience in a completely different way.
If It Belongs To Us It Will Come To Us—I found this Buddhist story in Thai Tales, Folktales from Thailand. An old couple finds a pot filled with gold in a termite mound in their rice field. The husband says if it belongs to them, the gold will find its way to them. The wife, however, is all for taking it then and there. The two go home and tell everyone about what they found. Two robbers go to find the pot and take the gold. What they discover, however, is a large snake. Angrily, the robbers place the pot just inside the door of the old couple so that the snake will find them. When the wife trips over the pot in the morning, she sees the gold. Her husband is satisfied, saying that the gold found its way to them, and it is now theirs to keep.
I like that the couple, without worry or concern, told everyone about the gold in their field and I like that only robbers went to take it. Everyone else left the gold there for fate to play out. I like the Buddhist approach of stepping back and not letting emotions cause suffering, which is exactly what I am experiencing in my Western mind as I wait for the phone to ring.
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