It's not quite December, but I'm already sneaking peeks into my new Planner, imagining what wonderful things will happen to fill all of those days. There are few things more enticing to me than a blank calendar page.
I'm not sure if I mentioned that I opted for "The Seven Habits" Franklin Planner, which comes with a quote at the bottom of each day's page. The January 1, 2015, quote is attributed to Bertrand Russell--"The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation." My new discovery, Wikiquote, tells me this quotation comes from "Human Society in Ethics and Politics" published in 1954. Despite the occasional bad press, I've opted to believe Wikiquote because, frankly, there is no way that I could ever get through "Human Society in Ethics and Politics" to actually find the context of that quote for myself. I'm simply hoping for the best.
Russell's quote didn't speak to me until the third or fourth reading. Cooperation seemed so obvious, I was kind of surprised it was included. Most of us had heard any number of lectures on cooperation even before we walked into kindergarten, and had already found it relatively unappealing. I mean, really, who wants to cooperate by sharing a brand new crayon with a stranger across the table? Especially if it's Knock Your Socks Off Pink.
And, yes, I know the leap from sharing crayons to redeeming mankind is a long one, but I've been thinking about it a lot over the past week or so, during what seems to be an especially un-cooperative period across this world of ours. Finally, though, I've had to stop criticizing Congress; the Administration; Vladimir Putin; Ferguson, MO; the Arizona Governor (incoming and outgoing); and bring the entire process closer to home.
I've considered: Why is cooperation so hard for so many? Ideologues aside, we know it's a very good thing. Politically, it's even better. But, personally? I'm afraid, personally, it can suck. Not all of the time...but enough of the time.
Why? I think it's the giving up. The letting go. The handing over. And in my case, it's the relationship of those three actions to time. I was born with a finely-tuned sense of time. I can literally see it flying by, sweeping away my good intentions, my plans, my daily duties...my days left on earth. I will admit that I'm selfish with my time. I'm not sure that's bad, but I have a feeling it's not good. I'm working on it.
So...what does that mean at our house? Sharing duties in exchange for time. Helping each other. It may take BC an hour to fill out an on-line form while I can whip it out in ten minutes. It only makes sense for me to do it. Right now? Right this minute? BC is doing the lunch dishes as he watches Big 12 Football, so that I can blog. That's pretty darned close to a Win-Win, but it still counts as cooperation. And let me tell you: If we can cooperate, the big boys can cooperate. I just wish they would...
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