Carl’s Jamaican reflection
Having never been on a mission trip or a yoga retreat I decided to consciously avoid developing any preconceived expectations about what I was about to experience. Other than a few informal trip meetings and anecdotal information from those who had been before, I was a blank slate walking into an adventure. The contrast between staying at an all-inclusive resort filled with middle class people from around the world, and driving up into the hills to volunteer at a local orphanage was to say the least dramatic. As much emotionally as physically.
Morning and afternoon yoga eased the transition between abject poverty, devastating physical, mental, and emotional disabilities and hunger at the orphanage, and the naïve indulgences of the resort environment. The view from the yoga studio was vast, calming, and sparse – ground, water, sky, sun. At the same moment immensely peaceful yet powerful and uncontrollable. One of my tasks at the orphanage was to dress a metal railing on one of the lodges. As I entered the oneness of the moment, I became the grinder and the metal. Removing the gross imperfections, rust, slags and smut from the aggressive actions of welding and corrosion. Revealed beneath was gleaming steel. Perfection was not the goal, only better, and good enough.
The residents behaved as though starved for human contact, eager for touch and any attention or interaction they could achieve. For the most part, they seemed happily oblivious to their condition. Self- pity did not seem part of their collective countenance. Humans are extremely adept at “rationalizing” away what we do not choose to admit. That little annoying voice can be very convincing.
God has given all of us a voice, “speech” includes attitude and emotion and is not limited to vocalization. Everyone has a message and a lesson, one need just see it and be open to it. I benefited and learned more about myself from the experience, than the orphanage residents by having me visit for a week. I do not know how anyone could go through a similar experience and not be touched and changed forever. Perspective colors perception.
