away teaching project

so this past weekend i made a spur of the moment trip to another cluster for their expansion phase.  their cluster is larger geographically than mine, but has less baha’is, and also not many youth – or at least, active youth.  in any case, i figured that it would be wise for me to go and get some more experience with direct teaching – and my auxiliary board member actually came out and said to me “i think you should come” so i drove out with her and another baha’i from my cluster.

this cluster is just starting to get their feet wet – so the project was only two days long.  but what we learned is that, at this stage, the quality of the learning was key.  the morning finds us at home base – us three from my cluster were all in our 20’s, whereas the local baha’is participating in the project were all 50+ years old.

it was wonderful.

age is an attitude, my friends.  these souls were there to learn, and were just selfless in their approach toward this process.  and it’s funny because they think that because they’re older, they can’t contribute – or at least, there is this sense of youth = capable.  i don’t know where this idea comes from… maybe people are feelin that way because of some of the trends in our activities lately, but it’s so important to dispel this myth.  being involved in serving the Plan does not require anything but a humble posture of learning.  this has been my biggest lesson these past few months, as my own cluster has started to rise to a new level of activity in two neighborhoods.

i also learned that things have to move little by little.  and by things i mean everything.  my own progress, the progress of other individuals, the progress of the community, and that of the institutions.  little by little.  often i find myself telling myself that i’m not good at this or that, and i get frustrated when i try and these gradiose expectations that i had dreamed up don’t come to pass.  but it’s unreasonable to expect such things! it’s wonderful to have high standards, but setting yourself up for failure is not good.  one must be realistic.  i have to be realistic.

i also learned that sometimes, people just aren’t interested – and i shouldn’t be attached to whether they are or not.  you know, the first day, every door we knocked either didn’t answer or didn’t care.  and that brought me down.. but really, it’s not about me at all – and actually, it’s a bounty just to have the ability to go to someone’s door and knock on it and give them the opportunity to learn.  so i should be grateful for every step that i took this past weekend.  i know we all theoretically know about being detached from results, but it’s a whole other story when you’re outside in the cold, your partner is feeling dejected, and people are rude. then the next day we had a really beautiful experience, and my partners got super excited and such.   but you know, if we’re not attached to results – then we should neither rejoice at a positive response, nor be sorrowful with negative responses.  it’s all about the middle path.

anyway, those were some pieces of learning that i thought i’d share.

more to come in the coming days/weeks.

age-gap.

i’m back.

august was an extremely busy month, but things are slowly going back to what we can now refer to as normal. expansion phases, consolidation… action, reflection, study, consultation –> confirmation and repeat.

i will not bore you with specifics… but today i got a real taste of the power struggle between young and old. i don’t know what it is, but people in my community, even those who are a few years older than i am, really look down on me. today, some older members of my teaching team presented ideas to an institution and they were wholeheartedly accepted. note: these were the same ideas that i’d been suggesting to this same institution for weeks now. i kept my mouth shut during the meeting… in fact, the few times when i did open my mouth, i was told “can we please talk about this later?”

my team reflected both before and after the meeting about this idea of presenting thoughts at a level that the community can understand, etc… and how it is still important to share one’s thoughts – we can’t just be silent. but i struggle with this, because i’m not often heard. i probably say things differently, but do i really say things in such an unpalatable way? i can’t believe that that is the case every single time. and here’s the interesting thing, too… while i was aware that i am not taken seriously very often, i didn’t realize exactly how bad it was. and now my question to you is… when you serve with people who don’t listen to you – what is the point of serving with them? why should i show up to meetings if i’m not heard?

anyway, this is all quite annoying and frustrating for me, seeing as how i figured, after a biochemistry degree, and gaining the right to vote – i’d be taken a little more seriously… but apparently, blinders are blinders. and i guess, i just gotta keep goin.

time flies by

i don’t know what everyone else’s experience is after finishing a degree while trying to do positive things in ones community… and perhaps i’m just burning out, but it seems that i am still very much exhausted from school – i want to sleep and yet to be involved in everything, and suddenly for money to start growing on trees so that i don’t have to work… last week our counsellor was here and shared so much guidance and love with us, that our cluster agencies have now come up with some pretty sweet plans for the next cycle.  i am soooo excited! but at the same time, exhausted.. and in the meantime, time is passing me by.. over the weekend, the fireside i am involved in had a declaration, and as this person is going home tomorrow, him and i have been doing as much of ruhi 1 as possible… the concepts are new for him, so it is slow going (not that that’s a bad thing) but even as we’re going through it.. it’s like time is passing us by 10 times as fast as normal… and certainly far too fast for the sake of our study of the Writings.

seeing as God made time, this is His Will i imagine, or maybe a lesson to me about teaching and consolidating and such.. i’m fairly new to this process of learning, and impatient with it… it doesn’t let me learn fast enough.

and time just keeps flying by…