My thought for the day

Here is what I ended up saying to Yearly Meeting (well, approximately):

I was asked to speak at the first of an open series of evening discussions that we held in Limerick, and spoke under the title “Quakerism – development of thought and action”.  I found I needed to prepare carefully, reminding myself of the Quaker history I have been steeped in all my life.

This reading, and the discussion series, led me to further reading on the people and history of Quakerism.   I realised that early Friends came up with some amazing ideas and practices that have stood the test of time.  Listen to the peace testimony as presented to Charles II in 1660……..

We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence whatever; this is our testimony to the whole world.  The Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil, and again to move unto it; and we certainly know, and testify to the world, that the Spirit of Christ, which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, not for the kingdoms of the world.

Would we come up with something like that now?  The words may be old but the spirit shines through.

Over the years our Quaker brethren have come up with all sorts of innovative thought and action that was ahead of their time – in my profession of human resources management I particularly feel we owe thanks to the Quaker businessmen of the 19^th C who thought of the welfare of their workers and introduced pensions, healthcare and the concept of holidays, items we now take for granted. 

That brought me to wondering whether we are set up to support new and creative thinking that challenges our current ways of living.  We seem to spend a lot of time doing business.  Does that sap our energy?  Do we step lightly to business meetings knowing that we will change the world?  I suspect not.

Having said that, I have always loved our business practices – the way we carefully consider items such that we can move on together.  I wonder, though, whether we need to re-think how we carry out our business, and harness our spiritual energies, in our new age of electronic communications.  How should we harness the benefits of technology in communications?

·         Imagine being able to have a meeting without moving location. 

·         Imagine doing this and retaining our Quaker discernment and sense of the meeting in decisions.  European Young Friends hold their committee meetings on Skype.

·         Imagine holding Meeting on the web.  Some isolated European Friends already do this.

·         Imagine being inclusive of all those younger members who find business meetings difficult, or don’t find them practical to attend.

·         Imagine putting our annual epistle into 140 characters on a Tweet and sending it around the world. Would it be read more than our current epistle, and what message would it hold?

·         Do any of you enjoy the Quaker discussion groups on the web?  Or, visit our web site that has so much care and attention given to it? Or, use the Quaker resources on line to find something, or for inspiration?

·         Imagine having a query that dealt with electronic communication?  What would it say?

      Do we think carefully before sending an e-mail, considering the impact on those who will receive it?

      Are we inclusive in our communications, arranging within our Meetings for those who do not have access to e-mails to receive the communication?

      Is everything we send necessary for the receiver?

      Is this the best way to communicate, or should we speak first?

Many meetings send minutes around to everyone by e-mail.  At a recent meeting in London they were looking for e-mail buddies to ensure those without e-mail don’t miss out on communications. 

Some may say that use of new technologies will exclude older Friends, but I believe that we currently exclude younger Friends by not using them.  

Of course it doesn’t make sense to do everything electronically.  We need to meet.  We need the camaraderie and the sharing that happens person to person.  Our whole being centres on the presence in our Meetings.  Something stirs when one or two are sitting in the presence of God.

Maybe, though, our occasions for meeting could be freed up a bit more from business if we used electronic processes more for the routine. 

What would we do instead when we meet?

Our meetings may then be free to consider matters of overall policy and thought, and new ideas.  I particularly enjoyed a recent session in MQM where Cork Friends arranged for us to talk to each other in groups.  I’ve been attending MQM for years and still hadn’t had a chance to have discussions with Friends from other Meetings, always going to QM to attend to business or listen to someone talking to us. 

I thought it would be worth considering what the “Tweet” would be for what I’ve just said – so no more than 140 characters:

Early Friends were inspirational.  Would new technologies free us up to let the spirit shine through?  Are we ready to meet this challenge?

Has spring sprung?

We are warned of a cold week ahead.   I planted all sorts of things this weekend and my greenhouse is almost overflowing with seeds.  I'm going to have to find blankets to wrap up the pots if the promised freeze arrives.  The weekend was so nice and mild, and fresh growth is showing all over the place, so it will be a terrible pity to go  backwards.  I suppose, though, it gives me an excuse to postpone, yet again, returning to cycling!

I really ought to be working on my "thought for the day" for delivering at Yearly Meeting.  There's always tomorrow..

My new car is cool

I had a great weekend in London with Carolan, and visit to Ian in Bristol.  We packed a lot into the weekend.  "Oliver" was great, and I highly recommend it if you are in London.  I made it to the theatre with 1 minute to the start.  That was pretty good going considering that I left Shannon at 5.15pm and flew to Heathrow.  The show started at 7.30pm.

Anyway, on my return home I had to go to a meeting in Cashel in Monday.  I managed to end it early on discovering that my new car had finally arrived and was available.  It is hard to believe that it has green credentials when you look at its size, but I've just bought a tank-full of diesel and the dashboard tells me I should get 1,100 kms from that fill.  We'll see!

Yo to London

I'm going to London tomorrow and am really looking forward to it.  Carolan and Ian, here I come!  Timing is tight as I'm attempting to get from Heathrow to Drury Lane in under an hour, and that's assuming the plane arrives in on time.  I hope to make at least some of the performance of Oliver.

Saturday is Carolan's birthday, and we are going to visit Ian in Bristol.   I've just discovered my "feeds" aren't working and that there was a treasure trove of Carolan's blogs from this week to read.  What fun!

My new car is still not available.  It's next week now, hopefully on Monday evening.  I'm looking forward to getting it.  It's a Skoda Superb Greenline, and is much more eco friendly than my current Honda CRV.  I've enjoyed the Honda, though.

4 minutes to go

In 4 minutes "Ugly Betty" starts.  It hasn't been on for a couple of weeks so I need my fix of it.  Then I'll try making phone calls again to find speakers for EMEYF gathering.  I have collected names of a number of victims, so now it is a matter of getting them to answer their phones.

You should see my new curtains in the living room.  They are light green, and long enough to lie slightly on the floor.  I got them ready-made at a price that was probably cheaper than getting the old ones cleaned.  In the event that we decide to put the house up for sale these little cosmetic improvements will, I hope, sell it quickly.  I am an optimist!

It's still freezing here in the mornings.  The last few days have had clear blue skies all day but it has been cold outside unless you are in a sheltered area with the sun pouring down on you.

I'm hoping to get my new car on Thursday evening.  If it isn't ready by then I'll have to ask b to collect it so that I can have it on my return from London.  I just hope that the Aer Lingus cabin crew don't go on strike before I fly.  Fingers crossed....

Oh, here's Ugly Betty.  Bye!

iPhone

I got it in the end, having overcome my anger today following a nice, friendly Meeting this morning.  Now I have an iPhone with a cool, red cover on the back, and a plastic skin stuck on the front.  It even works!  The person in the O2 shop who sold it to me was really nice.

So much to do, so much for iPhones

Have you ever had so much to do that you don't know where to start?  This seems to be the case in all aspects of my life at the moment and it has left me a bit paralysed.  However, today I've started off with some of the things I haven't had a chance to do for some time. The first thing was a hair cut.  Then I called in to work for half an hour to do a couple of things that will make my work easier on Monday.

One of the most satisfying has been having a big bonfire.  I've had a big pile of hedge clippings and raspberry canes that have collected since the autumn.  They dried out nicely over the last couple of weeks and this morning was actually dry - and a Saturday - so I set them alight.  I got most of the fire burnt up before the rain came.

Of course, the hardest things to get to are those that require creative thinking.  I promise I'll get to that CV, Ian!  My head needs to clear first.

Castleconnell is a lovely place to go for a walk.  There are always other people out walking too, and sometime someone stops and has a chat.  I met a woman on the foot-bridge who stopped to chat, saying she hadn't seen me for ages.  Neither of us had a clue who each other was, but we had a great chat, and even exchanged names.  She and her husband moved to Castleconnell 20 years ago and live on the opposite side of the river from us.

I know you don't really want to hear about my iphone story, but I'll tell it to you in brief.  I decided to order an iphone on line in the O2 shop.  In the process I ticked the box to say that I wanted to retain my existing number and move to the payment plan that was required for iphones.  The only difficulty in ordering was that they didn't have a box to allow me to say that I was already a monthly paying customer of O2.  There were boxes to tick if I was moving from other companies, or even from a pre-pay O2 plan, so I just chose a box at random and ticked it.  It appears, however, that good, paying, customers of O2 are not allowed to order from the convenience of their home.  As I had difficulty working out which SIM card I was to use I rang the help-line.  I was told I was a very bad, bold, stupid customer and that I was to go to a post office and return the iphone immediately.  Then I was to go to an O2 shop (note- they'd be unlikely to have a phone in stock) and buy one there instead.  I protested, but to no avail.  Suffice it to say that I am extremely angry.  I have now returned the phone via a post office but am seeking an alternative way to buy an iphone with another phone company, or maybe I won't buy one at all.  It's disappointing, as it was my little treat to myself.

This evening we are going out for a meal with Joe and Nikki in Killaloe.  Last night I met up with my Avocent pals.  What a social whirl!