Approaching Independence Day

This evening I watched the tail end of Christiane Amanpour's CNN Special, Notes From North Korea, which chronicles the New York Philharmonic's historic performance in North Korea a few months ago.

Amanpour interviewed a woman by the name of Ji Hae Nam.  In 1993, she was thrown in jail, where she was interrogated, tortured and starved over the course of the next three years.

The charge against her?  Singing a South Korean pop song at a Christmas party with friends.

The communist regime in North Korea is so strict that singing or performing any music that doesn't promote communist ideals or praise Kim Jong Il is forbidden.  The slightest criticism against the communist government lands citizens in jail or worse.

Google Ji Hae Nam.  You'll find her 2003 testimony in front of congress.  It's heartbreaking.

I am thankful I live in a country where I can sing Gershwin in my kitchen.  I can't believe places exist in the world where musicians are forbidden to express themselves.

For every man that lives without freedom, the rest of us must face the guilt.

- Lillian Hellman

Label Un-Maker

I had a disturbing interaction with a customer a couple of weeks ago.

He was upset we didn't have coffee (the brewer was broken).  When he found out I was in charge, he took it upon himself to start giving me a bad time.  He ordered a beverage, then decided he wanted a different size and ultimately decided he wanted it iced.  So as I'm re-making the beverage for the third time, he asks me my name.  

"Kate," I answer warily.

"You from Columbus, Kate?"

"No, I'm from just outside of Portland, Oregon."

To which he replies (verbatim):  "Oregon, huh?  Well, you must be a tree-hugging liberal, then.  Are you voting for Barack Obama?"

I was stunned.  I was shocked that that kind of ignorance actually existed.  I mean, he was totally serious.

I wasn't insulted; I happen to think environmental awareness is a key issue, I think Obama is the man for the job and they're both things I'm proud to say.

But why are people so obsessed with labels?

Even right after he said it, I came up with more than several unflattering terms for this particular gentleman, none of which I'm proud of, so I won't repeat them.  

I'm currently reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, in which he suggests that name-calling and labeling are the most basic and crudest manifestations of our unconscious' need to feel superior to others.  By making someone a "this" or a "that", we make ourselves "feel better" by placing ourselves above them.

There's no point.  There's no purpose to making yourself superior.  There's no purpose in being superior to anyone, because it's impossible.  We're all the same in the eyes of God.

How did I respond?  I smiled smugly and replied "I'm not allowed to discuss politics while I'm working."  According to Mr. Tolle (I'm totally paraphrasing, because I can't find the particular pages I'm looking for), lack of retaliation is the most effective response in regards to the positive upkeep of one's spirit.  It really resonated with me when I read that.

It's beautiful outside.  I'm going to the pool.

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Blessings: Vol. 2

It's been a very stressful week. So I'm focusing on the many blessings in my life to keep myself from completely freaking out. Here are five of the highlights I am thankful for:

1. I'm thankful for my boyfriend. You know it's love when you both always offer each other the last little smidgen of organic chocolate cake/Dippin' Dots/bottled water.

2. I'm thankful for my job. I love the work environment. I love the people I work with. I love that I constantly have something to do, even though it's exhausting. I love that I don't have to sit on my butt and answer phones or beg people for money or con them into buying something they don't need. It's not awesome money, but it's decent money and I have great health insurance. I would rather make less money at a job I love than make six figures stuck in a cubicle. I gave a customer a complimentary beverage the other day because she was having a rough morning. She said it made her day. In turn, it made my day.

3. I'm thankful for Brooklyn Boy. I just finished doing a really great play with really great people. When I was in New York, I kept receiving the advice that I should "look for the actor whose career I want." I found bits and pieces in different individuals, but couldn't find who I really wanted to be like. I found her, in both of the other women in the cast. They have genuine down-to -earth personalities, have made pretty steady careers for themselves in acting, and they don't live in NYC or LA. It's hard to explain; I want a acting/performing life without an excess of the crap that goes along with it, and I found two other ladies who've done that. I feel like we proved that great art can happen anywhere when you have legitimately talented artists, great director and a well-written script. I'm also thankful for this experience because it's really rekindled my passion for the art.

4. I'm thankful for my parents. I'm really close with them. I talk to my mom at least once a day; sometimes twice. I'm thankful that I'll be closer to them (geographically!) soon.

5. I'm thankful for my fitness progress. All through high school, I was the kid who couldn't even jog two minutes of the monthly mile run. I usually walked the entire way in a little over twelve minutes. I'm now running an 8:07 mile on the elliptical at the gym.

My challenge for myself this week is to not get caught up in "stuff". My phone and my laptop both broke on the same day, and I had a fit. Two expensive devices I rely heavily upon. Broken. Cracked. In need of repair. Costing me money. Money that I want to save.

Ultimately, it's just a computer, it's just a phone and it's just money. There are so many other important things in life. They're just three things that have gone awry in the grand scheme of my many other abundant blessings. "Stuff" isn't important.

I have love. I have family. I have hope. I have faith. I have much to be thankful for.

God is good, even when life is not.

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.
- James A. Michener