Building a monument

That is one of the things a lot of us do, even
if we don't plan it that way.
While we are in our villages and towns we try
our best and in cases at the end we leave the
'old monument' standing as a testament to our
time there.
What you are seeing in the picture is the
beginning of the building of my monument.
This morning I put the sign over the door of what
I have dubbed ... 'my project'.
I've written about this library project that I decided
to make it my own personal unsustainable endeavor.
Well, the unsustainable part is not quite as cut and dried.
As far as the actual activity of this project, as of the
moment, heck, it's as unsustainable as unsustainable
can be.
Reasons being, I've thought of it, I bought the paint,
patched all the walls, searched for shelves, screws,
wood, did all the work except that a teacher
actually painted the sign that you see above the door.
So why in the haides do it if it doesn't fit the model
on how to build and nurture sustainability and self
reliance?
In this case, I am throwing all caution to the winds
and just rolling the dice, so to speak. I am just investing
into what I hope will become sustainable by the
knowledge that the school students may acquire.
If you later continue on to the Pando Project blog ...
link is in the upper right hand corner of this blog ...
you'll read a bunch of introductions from students in
the 9th grade English class here. The last entry is
by a girl named Rosemary and in her section, she
mentioned that the library was kind of weak and
lacked resources.
I am taking this as there are some kids who are
willing to make use of this library. The impact on
them should be related to the quality of the tools
they have to use.
So, despite the unsustainable side of it till the present,
there seems to be a possibility that sustainability
will come in the form of intelligence that they
will carry with them throughout life.
Do I think that the people will maintain the library
and keep it progressing after I leave, heck no.
So maybe the window of opportunity to make
the impact that will make all the investment worthwhile,
is limited to my time here, that's ok. I think it goes
under the ... it's better than nothing ... category.
Over the nine years, there have been successes and
failures and that's normal in all our lives. But even
after the years I feel pretty good because I've never
lost the ... ant can, move the rubber tree plant ... hope.
I've learned that it really isn't all that bad to throw
out the supposed (sustainable) model (that if it really
worked I wouldn't have been where I've been over
these years trying to make things better) and just go
by the seat of your pants, that gut feeling.
So, that's my monument, probably more of a monument
to flying by the seat of my pants than anything else.
But darn it, an ant really can move a rubber tree plant,
it make take a few generations but just by teaching the
child ant to keep trying, well, that could be called
sustainability.
I hope no matter if it all comes apart after I leave that
a few kids will have noticed this old guy just trying
to make it better for them. And if they do the same
for their future generations ... then that rubber tree
won't stand a chance of staying put.
.