Exodus

After 430 years of slavery

the Israelites marched out their exodus,

rich.

No hand had been raised

except Moses.

The night before

Yahweh had kept wake, 

over them,

rapt.

So here I pray for Haiti, in year 211:

would grace not half the suffering

and set a Kiskeya vigil?

Life

There are times
when life 
takes flight
alone,
leaving us in a miasma,
a chasm,
grasping for air,
groping for what remains
when faith and friends
are sought in vain
when knowing
gives way, limp.

It will return, of course,
life that is,
the sun and a song 
on its wings.

Goodness will circle, circle, circle.
The Lord, the Lord Almighty has traced it so.

Tattered Dawns

Each day begins as a tattered dawn

A morning, torn

From the previous night’s gilded gown,

And unveils my face,

Creamy bisque, and blank,

My voice, stark and bare

Hardly there,

More leaves than daffodils. 

 

Harsh Lesson

Just four months after joining an organization, I was asked, with no prompting  whatsoever from my part, to become one of five directors. There was a catch: I would "leap frog" a colleague who had been with the organization at least ten years, and had technical expertise that I did not. My promotion constituted a de facto demotion for him. I would become his supervisor. 

At the meeting, my spirit raised a flag. “Let me think about it,” I answered. 

The next day, mind still disquieted, I said yes, because, the logic went, “I just got here, I cannot say no.”  My supervisor was visibly relieved at my decision, as if he had been genuinely afraid that the answer would be “no.” But it wasn’t. Confronted with a supervisor’s request, I did the thing he wanted, ignoring my personal sense of good and right.

But now about ten months later, I know not to do that again, allowing myself to send messages to colleagues. After all, if a staff's performance leaves something to be desired, then management has the duty to react, and to do so ethically.

In this case, the behavior was unprofessional, and I was party to it. 

Explaining that decision away could be easy, placing the "blame" on those who made the initial offer.  But this would be the wrong conclusion: they did not have any trepidation about that decision. I did. They did not ignore their conscience. I did. My initial and persistent reluctance condemns me, not them.

Lesson to be remembered.