Multiconstruct

What a great weekend it’s been. I got to be a resource and witness some truly excellent strategic planning at Welcome Home. That’s a homeless veteran’s shelter where I’ve been consulting for several years. It really made me reflect on how much growth and development I’ve seen with this great organization. Since I’ve been working with them they moved from a ramshackle house to a beautiful new facility with three times the capacity. I’ve worked behind the scenes on policy and continuous quality improvement. They’ve gone from a mom and pop type operation to a fully formed professional organization. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. The need is great but the solutions are getting better and better.

My mind has been on the future as I spent the rest of the weekend at Rockbridge High School judging at a debate tournament. I did an evening of Lincoln Douglas contests Friday night. The topic was nuclear disarmament and I loved the moral reasoning. Utilitarianism, pragmatism, Kant’s second categorical imperative were all used to prove states ought to eliminate their nuclear stockpile and then to prove just the opposite.

Yesterday I judged the radio speaking finals. They were all so great and I caught a half an hour of news. It was fun to chat with the kids and kick it in the teacher’s lounge. I read the school paper which was excellent and the kid who invited me to judge had an article on Venezuela. It was on a whole page on US Imperialism which is technically accurate but bold for a high school paper.

Biking on a brisk day but with some blessed sunshine. The last event was running late so I skipped another experience and rode home while it was still light. Full but good day.

Today it’s been nice and unstructured. We’ve had a mouse infestation. I’ve been going through my cupboards and cleaning everything and replacing the shelf paper in addition to freshening up the traps. It’s a gross and difficult job for a big fella. I’m through the worst of it.

My ex-wife would scrub the floor as a spiritual exercise. A metaphor for her life and worrying away at the parts that need to go or get scrubbed clean. I’ve tried to bring some of that energy. Cleaning, examining, tossing the detritus, remembering my underused and forgotten assets.