I once overheard former Celtic basketball player Jo-Jo White say to a friend that he had succeeded in everything he had done. It was true and he wasn't being arrogant, just stating a fact. But it seemed sad to me. Nobody likes to fail but in my case most of the things that eventually worked out were disasters at first and the things that came naturally never fully developed. I've developed a great fondness for my disasters and take great joy in observing the disasters of others.
Like the fine state of Louisiana for example.
Louisiana politicians generally go to jail once their term in office is over (School Board, City Council, Mayor, Governor, Jail). Bribery and corruption are the usual culprits. The claim that "everyone does it" although true in these parts doesn't seem to help. But today was a special day. The day that a long serving former Governor completed his sentence and was set free. He had apparently divorced his wife during his stay in the big house (how does a convicted felon tell his wife she's not good enough?) and his completely unintelligible brother was offering up quotes to the local press pleading for dignity and closure. At first I thought the local station was giving the complete quote ahead of the soundbite to make him look like an idiot like Mike Breen of the Imus in the Morning program used to do but brother managed it all on his own.
That made my own disaster-du-jour so much easier to ride and enjoy. This was supposed to be the week that the Community Center was going to be short-handed. One of our Americorps stalwarts was going to be away and as of December no other volunteers were on the horizon. So I arranged to stay another month, called a friend in Alabama to come down and help and prepared for a week of total craziness. Instead we were awash in volunteers (mostly older this time) the number of clients in the food pantry eased and my visions of being a food pantry hero vanished into thin air. It still turned out to be a lovely week and joined a long list of disasters that worked out quite well.
Fernwood was a disaster at first. Tower Records was ultimately a dead-end. The Minor Chord ran its course and some travel experiences have worked out better than others. I wouldn't trade any of them for anything, even the ones that made me angry or that I vowed never to do again. I didn't take up traveling to make a mark on the world. I wanted to take it in and let the world make its mark on me even at the risk of a few small disasters.