I Left my Kingdom

A story that really stood out to me from Deepak Chopra's "The Return of Merlin."  Any thoughts?

There once lived a king of India who was visited by a wandering holy man. To show his respect, the king lavished the holy man with every kind of rich food and drink. His begging bowl and staff were taken away, and fresh robes of silk were draped over his body. He was given a feather bed to sleep on and numerous attendants to carry out his slightest wish. One day at banquet before the assembled court the king announced that he was going to make the holy man his prime minister.
“Oh but I cannot accept”, the holy man said.
“Why not?” the king asked. “You will be the most powerful man in the kingdom, excepting only myself”
The holy man replied “But I am more powerful than you already.” At this effrontery the court buzzed like wasp. “I do not mean to offend Your Highness,” the holy man continued. “To show you how touched I am by your offer, I will gladly give you all my power. Follow me.” The holy man rose and called for his begging bowl and staff. Without another word he walked away from the court.
The king could not decide if he was more curious or angry with the old beggar’s boldness, but in the end curiosity won out. He dressed in traveling clothes and followed the holy man on foot.  It was a beautiful morning, and the king enjoyed the journey, which lasted until nightfall. The two weary travelers slept by a stream under the full moon and were up by dawn.

“Do we have much farther to go?” the king asked somewhat anxiously. He was tired, and in the night he had begun to think of his enemies back home. The holy man said nothing but kept walking. Thus they continued for two days.  On the third day they reached the frontier of the kingdom.

“Stop,” the king commanded. “I must turn back.”
“Why?” the holy man asked. “What I want to show you is only a step away.”
The king retorted, “I can go no farther. If I cross the frontier my throne will be seized by my enemies.”
The holy man nodded. “I said that I have a power you can only dream of, and here it is: I can walk away from this kingdom while you, its ruler, cannot. If you want my power, just follow me.”
But the king would not.  With a smile the holy man strode over the frontier, a free spirit, leaving the dejected king to return to his palace.

I feel like I  have left my Kingdom and am somewhat of a free spirit. Liberating.  Anyone out there have any thoughts?

I Look Like a Mummy!

I look like a Mummy

Oh man, this past week has really been something else.  Currently sitting in the med-unit of our office, I have mummy-like wraps/bandages on both arms and feet.  In the words of another volunteer, I look “a hot mess.”  How did this happen? I wish I fully knew…  but it is definitely hella embarrassing.

What I remember:

1.     Biking towards our office after dark, my bike made a sound as if something had broken or something had hit me.

2.       Next thing I knew was that I was standing up leaning forward over my handle bar, while my hands were still holding on for dear life.

3.       Of course, as the rules of physics suggest, my bike went into a reverse willie. A maneuver commonly referred to as a “stoppie”; in which a biker is simply riding on their front wheel with the back tire in the air.

4.       Of course me having no sense of balance and being completely taken by surprise, I went into quite an impressive series of front flips.

5.       After rolling around for a while, I flipped up and stood in the middle of the road in shock. My helmet was across the street and my bike was about 10ft behind me. (“Did this really just happen”)

6.       Oh yea, upon further inspection; I was covered in blood and was pretty scratched/bruised up. 

7.       Continuing on to the office I met up with friends already in the med-unit and used the shower there to wash the blood/dirt off.  Yeap, that was the most painful shower I’ve ever taken.  

8.       !@#$%$#@!@#$@!@#$$@%^&*^&*(*&^%

9.       The next day consisted of PSDN training and me feeling horrible. Every bone, piece of skin, and body part hurt. My head was killing me and my neck was definitely too stiff to turn.

10.   After running by the medical officers, they patched me up like a mummy and gave me enough painkillers and antibiotics to cure a village of malaria (yes, they occasionally prescribe this stuff for malaria in village).

11.   THE END! Here I am.

In further news, a recent string of robberies and purse snatchings have PCBF in a state of panic. I think at the last count, there have been around 14 in the past two months.  It seems that PC volunteers have become the newest easy targets in Ouaga. Yours truly got to become a target this past Friday. Luckily I did not lose anything, but the volunteer I was walking with had her bag snatched and she lost a few things.  It all happened too quickly.  We were walking down the street from our transit house when a moto with two guys came up behind us and grabbed her bag. Yea, they sped off and left us there stunned.  It’s amazing how a single small incident can take away all of your confidence and power. I was left feeling useless and powerless.  Although I was not the victim, I definitely lost something.

Besides spending the majority of this week wrapped up like a mummy, I also got to take part in PSDN training with 11 other volunteer (3 from my stage and 8 from the stage before us). I am happy to say that this training may have been the most useful and interesting training that I’ve done in-country. Well organized and actually useful/practical, I am happy to be a part of this group, and am looking forward to our task of supporting the needs of volunteers.

Well, I’m ending this post here, as I am off to dinner. 

FOOOOOD!!!!