reviewing priorities

I believe that we all have an important role to play in life, whether it be public or private. I have openly struggled to identify my role, but am firm in my belief that I am in some way doing some of the work I am on this earth to do.

This has caused me to give up the "home comforts" of New Zealand, to learn a new language, to find new ways of wringing out the oily rag. I am on my way to doing what I think I should be doing, having stood at many cross-roads and gazed anxiously or excitedly at the choices ahead of me.

Along the way I have made friends, lost friends, stepped outside my comfort zone, hastened back into my shell, and sometimes struggled to find my balance.

I have found it easy to relinquish consumerism, but not so easy to give up old and favourite pieces of furniture or books. I am still a hoarder by nature, albeit a semi-reformed one. I am a greenie at heart, and find some perverse pleasure in not having running hot water in my kitchen. I heat only what I need, when I need it. It makes me far more aware of wastage and conservation. I try to keep my life simple, as mentioned in comments in another post. My wants and needs are few, although my dreams are big.

Events in Japan however, have brought home one thing very strongly. It doesn't matter what we think we want in life, the only thing that is important at the end of the day is relationships. I think that possibly the best thing that has been given to me this year was the email I woke up to yesterday, from a very shaken young woman in Japan, that said at the end "I love you Mum". It seems so long ago that I became "Mum" to my Japanese daughter, but when you give away a part of your heart the love crosses all time, all distance, and all eventualities.

With all the tragedies around the world recently I hear more talk of the world ending in 2012. I have never believed these predictions, and don't usually discuss them. But perhaps the greedy world as we know it now will end then. Perhaps we will have reached out to help one another. Perhaps we will focus more on kindness, on gratitude, on humanitarianism. Perhaps the world will be a better place, where the most important thing is how we interact with one another.

Today I am grateful for messages from Japan.