In DC
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007I’m in DC again, spending time working with combat vets who are recovering from injuries sustained in Iraq. I’m truly grateful to everyone here who has opened their minds and hearts to tell me their experiences fighting and dealing with the ramifications of this war. there is a genuine desire to tell their stories and I intend to honor that in my work.
Progess on Pvt. Wars is coming along nicely. the director, Farhad Mann, and the man who wrote the original play, James McLure, have concluded negotiations for the rights to the material, a laborious process to say the least and one that has been carefully worked out for all parties invloved. They are continuing work now on the intensive task of updating the Vietnam-era play to the present day screenplay.
On another important note, I want to talk about something I have just been exploring and realizing in my life. the notion that all suffering is self-imposed, and therefore unneccessary. i’m not talking about actual pain here, the physical hard-wired physiological response your body has in order to keep you alive. But rather the thought-induced, emotional suffering which is so dominant in our world. The I’m not good enough, I’m not worthy, what is the point, I deserve better, reality isn’t good enough for me, us against the world plague of thought that we all (I think) subject ourselves to at some point or another.
Here’s the thing: sometimes being present, being in reality (rather than going into our heads and suffering) is not always easy, and is not always comfortable. But over a lifetime of suffering, the amount of time, energy, and pain we put into this slippery profession cumulatively takes SO MUCH out of us. We can cause ourselves real pain, headaches, backaches, sicknesses, diseases, and cancers. And when there are real things we want to do, things that could build real value for ourselves and others, we have wasted our resources feeling bad about how things “aren’t the way we want them to be.”
What would happen if we all stopped suffering about how things aren’t the way we want them to be, and went out and took steps in the world to achieve our goals in that regard? Imagine…
Achieving this is not easy. It takes effort, and commitment, and emotional fortitude. I have more thoughts on this. I will share.
Your thoughts?
With the utmost love and respect,
Mark.