We are in New Orleans, wading belly button deep in a cloudy grey water suburban canal with bits of garbage floating by. It is hot. My submerged scratched up legs are stinging and the water is stinky, in a polluted sort of way.
We are part of a team of five building a sandbag island. There are two women, but I am the only one of the bunch too weak to do the main aspect of this work: actually carrying the sandbags. (I have had to tell myself many times on this trip, "I am not good at (this present task) but I am good at many other things.")
This is not a volunteer opportunity I would have chosen, ever. Even if my arms were stronger. Nevertheless, Chris is happy and it is important work. I am experiencing the following mix of emotions: humiliation, fatigue, determination to press on cheerfully the way everyone else seems to be doing with total ease, and misery. Ugh.
Our team leader, named Andy, is a 40-something year old freckled, sun baked man with a red moustache and a tilley hat.
I have set up this scene for you because it strikes me as a very unlikely place for me to hear my new mantra for the year.
But here I was, helping to move along our makeshift raft covered in sandbags. Andy instructs someone to do something in a safer fashion and finishes by pronouncing, "Safety first!" This was then followed by an offhand muttering of, "normally I would say 'safety third' but that's probably not best in this situation."
"What do you mean by, 'safety third'?" I asked.
"Look fabulous. Be fabulous. And try not to hurt anyone while doing that. That would be the safety," he responds.
(Just take a moment to ponder the awesomeness of this before you continue reading.)
Brilliance! I love it.
I have put a great deal of thought into these three little rules for life since then. To me, it is about shining as bright as you can without exploiting anyone else, whether that be a child in a foreign sweat shop or the person behind the counter at Starbucks. It is about pursuing beauty and health and, at the same time, environmental and social justice. It is about both my good and the good of creation.
It just applies SO WELL to my next phase of life: attempting to become a legit shoemaker!
Look Fabulous! Be Fabulous! And try not to hurt anyone while doing that!
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