According to Kurt Hahn, there are four essential pillars to life. Who is this Hahn guy to decide how we should live? Kurt Hahn was the founder of Outward Bound; these pillars have become the central tenets around which the program takes form.
The four pillars of Kurt Hahn (as adopted by Outward Bound): physical fitness, self-reliance, craftsmanship, and above all compassion.
- Physical fitness: We should be in such shape that we are able to take on the challenges we face and push forward to face new, greater challenges as we help shape a better world. In AmeriCorps, it'll take strength and endurance to clear trails, put up walls, or work long days at disaster sites.
- Self-reliance: Whether transforming a patch of trees into a home for solo or expressing our needs and goals with confidence, we should learn to trust and utilize our personal skills and capabilities as we move forward in life. In AC, we'll each need to bring to our team a confidence in our own abilities and strengths as we work together to get things done.
- Craftsmanship: We should pay attention to detail as we clean gear for others, put care into the work we do, and take the time to get a job right. Applied to AmeriCorps, this is about taking the time to build a house right rather than rushing through it; pay it forward to the future residents with your care and energy.
- Compassion (above all): This was Kurt Hahn's big one. We must, above all else, show compassion for others. We should take the time to lend a helping hand, open doors or help with street crossings, offer support in times of need and even in times of want, because that's what life really comes down to when all's told. In NCCC, I'll get phenomenal opportunities to work with and within communities to get things done here in our nation. Pretty cool.
In other news, service is also quite frequently tons of fun. Conservation can involve trips to wildlife and wetland areas, meeting new people and learning about plants, poison, and kangaroos. When building houses, you get to spend hours playing with hammers and nails, priming and painting, and measuring stuff. In NCCC, we'll even get to play with - ahem, work with - power tools. Coaching is great, too; if nothing else, I'll never be lacking an excuse not to swim again.
Coaching is, of course, the primary recipient of my time before I fly down to Maryland in twelve days. Well, I suppose sleeping does surpass it, but I do spend four-plus hours to, from, and at practice each day. High school boys are... high school boys. They can always invent a reason (or two conflicting reasons) why they can't be doing that set at that moment, love to proclaim their superiority in every area, and ultimately get the workout done (sometimes) and bring energy and excitement to a day (always).
Other than coaching, I've been getting my health appointments squared away before I head out of town until November, preparing to paint, my mom's living room, and continuing to cross things off my rarely-ending to-do list. Tonight, I got a new netbook, which was very exciting. I'll be passing my college-years laptop on to my mother in two weeks and taking my fun new (very lightweight) gadget with me down to the Point. It already has word processing and internet, so I'll be set to roll once I confirm that I can deal with photos easily. Advantages of bringing a netbook rather than my laptop include travelling lightweight, going minimalist for a short while (all I specifically foresee using my computer for are staying in touch online, writing, and downloading photos), and being a part of my mom's conversion to Macs. Another plus: its battery life is about 9 hours unplugged, about 7.5 hours longer than that of my laptop. Yay technology.
Okay, I'm off to read then sleep. I've got another busy day tomorrow with a physical at the doctor (plus collection of my current immunization record to add to my collection of mandatory forms for in-processing at the Point), lunch with Dad, and a full afternoon coaching. I may even get to sleep at a more reasonable hour with no State of the Union to watch. Apparently, the Union, by the way, is doing better now than it was and will continue to do even better. Since presidents seem to tend to think (or at least are fairly obligated to say) that they're making America a better place and plan to continue doing so, this seems a pretty standard prognosis. Obama, however, sure is a wonderful orator and says it better than most.
That's enough for now - enjoy your wintery week!
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