Crisis 2009

I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “crisis” today. What exactly constitutes a crisis in your mind? I have helpfully provided a few definitions from dictionary.com. See below:

cri-sis
noun

1. a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, esp. for better or for worse, is determined; turning point.

2. a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change.

3. a dramatic or circumstantial upheaval in a person’s life.

4. the point in a play or story at which hostile elements are most tensely opposed to each other.

So, based on the above definitions, a crisis is when a person’s future, or a country’s future, or an organization’s future, or even socio-economic futures are inevitably going to be changed. I suppose many of us may not realize that we’re in the midst of a crisis until we’ve actually come out on the other side. Or perhaps some people just don’t want to admit that they or their surroundings are in crisis-mode because they are afraid of panicking others. But based on these definitions, there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of room for debate, right? A crisis is any situation that is going to result in a big change. And change is scary. Is that why the idea of a crisis is ultimately the idea of trouble?

Crisis = Change = Trouble?

Come Home, Dumb Dumb

It makes me really, really sad when I see signs for lost dogs or cats. Like REALLY sad. I saw one this morning for a lost dog, and I nearly started crying. I think it might stem from my divorce when I lost my dog to my ex. Seriously, having to leave Jolie was harder than leaving the husband. Doesn't say much about the marriage, huh? Or maybe it just says a whole bunch about what an amazing dog that Jolie is.
I just hate the idea of scared pets wandering around looking for their moms and dads. I even felt like this when the bear took a wrong turn and ended up hanging around I5 in Seattle. Poor bear. Scared and alone, definitely not loving city life.
Weirdly, the other day I saw a sign for a lost turtle. The turtle's name is Dumb Dumb which probably predetermined her as a lost pet. Apparently Dumb Dumb likes playing hide and seek, and she is very, very good at it.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

We Are Family

I saw the best thing the other day.

Going for a walk through my neighborhbor, I watched as a school bus pulled up to a house. Waiting outside the house was a little girl, maybe about 3 years old. As the bus pulled up, she started clapping and jumping up and down in excitement. This was pure joy. Her two sisters bounded off the bus, and all three were laughing and jumping around together. Their mother came around from the backyard, and yelled, "Okay, girls, now it's fun time!" And they all hollered and whooped.

How great is that? Family is everything.

I'm Rubber and You're Glue...

On Saturday, I found out that someone had something pretty nasty about me. I'm not friends with the person who said it. In fact, I don't even really know him at all. And he doesn't know me. He believes that I hurt someone he cares about, and thus, the nastiness. This is not the first time I've heard about this guy making crap comments about me. But for some reason, this time, I took it really, really hard. Like tears in the eyes hard. Like catch in my throat hard. What was different about this time?
His comment was not true. It's actually just this man's opinion. An opinion based on nothing. And even if it wasn't completely baseless, why do I care what he thinks about me? Why do I care what any virtual stranger thinks about me?
Or is my reaction due to something else? Guilt? Regret over past actions? Karmic payback? A larger questioning of who I am as a person?

Oh, too much self-analyzation for a Monday afternoon. Maybe my tears and hurt feelings would go away with a much simpler solution: telling that guy where to go and how to get there.