The top of the pyramid

Winter water woes, which will go on for probably another two days, won’t be today’s subject, nor the leaks in friends houses, the broken waterline somewhere in the desert downhill from the tank the water people have been filling and thawing out… They are doing a great job with wicked wind-chill factors! And that is what I have been thinking about: work and the satisfaction of work. Most of us hold a job and - like a friend of mine phrases it - live in civil-servitude. I have friends who bide their time till retirement, trying not to loose their soul in the process; some still enjoy their job, but just need a bit more time off; while others at different ages check out of the system. Take Vicky, she is pursuing a dream, she wants to build houses in cob: a mixture of clay, sand and a bit of straw. She just resigned from a decent paying job with good benefits and trusts that she will find a way to do what she really would like to do and still make a living. Her grown up kids frowned at her when she went to help a lady in Tuscon who has experience in building cob houses. She came back all fired up, telling about the mixing, the heavy work, the glaze to keep the dried cob waterproof and sealed, all with natural, free materials. Now she just needs to learn how to build the foundation and she is all set. Diane started making jewelry at sixty and sells it in a small gallery/shop and online. Both good examples, or rather role models! Both are survivors and talented people. And I? With all the wind and weather I didn’t take to road too much, didn’t visit friends living at a distance but worked. I mean I did what my hearts tells me to: translating poetry and prose for love and beauty. It seems that for ages, till the French Revolution, artists, painters, musicians only worked when a piece of work had been commissioned by the local ruler or art patron. When Jacques-Louis David began to chronicle the French Revolution without anybody asking him to, a visitor to his ‘atelier’ queried him whom he was doing this work for. David’s answer was: ”For humanity” and his ‘The Death of Marat’ certainly has become a cultural icon. There didn’t use to be so called independent artists. Now, many among us try to find a good balance between money and freedom, or rather between freedom and poverty, trying to live full lives, developing our creativity, spiritually, trying to fulfill all of our needs as represented in Maslow’s Pyramid. And yes some of us want it all, reach for the moon and stars and want to lead a meaningful, playful, authentic life. That too is what blogging is about.