My Mentor, Dr Crazy

I have a friend at the Saltmine who I've named Dr Crazy. He knows this, in fact, it may have even been his idea. He is also a Buddhist and we've had a great many interesting conversations on the subject. I have the utmost respect for him since he's one of the few people I know who will tell me exactly what he thinks even when he knows that I might not want to hear it.

He once said to me something along these lines,

"Virginia, people are always talking about how to make the world a better place and how if we all just treated each other well, the world would be perfect. My question is, 'why the F--- should the world be perfect?' The whole point of living is that nothing is ever perfect, if it was how would we ever learn anything...particularly compassion? It's the act of being kind to people, even when they don't particularly deserve it that makes us what we are. Choosing to accept that things aren't perfect and never will be brings us closer to our ultimate goal." (This is of course, a paraphrase and I likely left quite a bit out, if so, the screwup is mine, not his).

Anyway, this point was driven home to me today in a 2.5 hour meeting after the Saltmine session closed for the day. I dragged my butt home, plopped down and had a moment of clarity...

Nothing is perfect. It was a good day and I ended it in the usual spot, having an enjoyable 7th period...and then there was that meeting.

The act of accepting that no day at the Saltmine will ever be perfect didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling, but it did let me know that I should really appreciate the good moments, not just at the Saltmine, but everywhere.

Does that make sense? Probably not.

I'm just sayin'.

Enjoy those brief moments of respite from the craziness. Thank Carlos for all my Inmates and periods 1-7, trust me, if it weren't for them, there is no way I would put up with those darn meetings...