Washing My Hands of Volunteerism-The Fundamentalist Approach_Notes from a Kid_

The impact friends have on eachother is not to be overlooked.

When I got on that train decades ago and headed further westward

I was only too happy to get far away from that place.

Though I was, no doubt, from the city, for me,

 I had no thoughts of comparision.

Yet, from the very first moment

awakened from my nap

in that fundamentalist boarding school

looking up at a number of huddled girls

 

looking down at me,

I had a queasy feeling inside.

They were commenting quite loudly amongst themselves

(as if I was not a sentient being),

on my physical appearance,

and that I was from a big city back east.

I mean, I had my eyes opened!

It was weird for me to be the object

of such a strange first encounter.

That "big city girl crazy crazy"

...however crazy I might have

behaved at that school...

                   I was to learn

                   I was inside

                   an even crazier place.

____

Here is some comments from one of my favorite educators:

"Questioner: Sir, are you crazy?

Krishnamurti: Are you asking the speaker if is he crazy? Good. I wonder what you mean by that word `crazy; do you mean unbalanced, mentally ill, with peculiar ideas, neurotic?
All these are implied in that word `crazy.' Who is the judge - you or I or somebody else? Seriously, who is the judge? Will the crazy person judge who is crazy and who is not crazy? If you judge whether the speaker is balanced or unbalanced, is not judgment part of the craziness of this world? To judge somebody, not knowing a thing about him except his reputation, the image that you have about him. If you judge according to the reputation and the propaganda which you have swallowed, then are you capable of judging? judgment implies vanity; whether the judge be neurotic or sane, there is always vanity. Can vanity perceive what is true? - or do you not need great humility to look, to understand, to love. Sir, it's one of the most difficult things to be sane in this abnormal, insane world.

Sanity implies having no illusion, no image at all about oneself or about another. You say, `I am this, I am that, I am great, I am small, I am good, I am noble; all those epithets are images about oneself. When one has an image about oneself one is surely insane, one lives in a world of illusion. And I am afraid most of us do. When you call yourself a Dutchman - forgive me for saying so - you are not quite balanced. You separate yourself, isolate yourself - as others do when they call themselves Hindus. These nationalistic, religious divisions, with their armies, with their priests, indicate a state of mental insanity."

___

My sentiments. I don't fancy myself that 'free' and have my vanities too.

____

At this boarding school there was a couched phrase called, 'Gratis'

a nom-de-plume and/or synonym for "volunteering'.

It was 'offered' for families to pay less

tuition, boarding fees etc. to this fundamentalist school.


My parents had paid the full tuition,

not knowing that if they 'offered up their daughter'

for 'gratis' these costs would be reduced

and further,

as the school shared with my folks by phone,

"It will create 'humility' in her".


 Humility and saving money,

 my parents jumped at the idea.


 Thus my indentured servitude began.

Kitchen Duty Gratis:

Sharing this same fate was another young girl who would

 become my saving grace and fellow fun-lover, G.B.


It was her and I against the  POTS AND PANS.

Each and everyday,

Adj.	1.	gratis - costing nothing; "complimentary tickets"; "free admission" costless, complimentary, gratuitous, free unpaid - not paid; "unpaid wages"; "an unpaid bill"
Adv.	1.	gratis - without payment; "I'll give you this gratis" for free, free of charge

we washed dishes, pots and pans

(oh, how we hated the fried sausages!)

at lunch (us two only)

for the entire school
 
for the entire school year.

 

Our kitchen matron, who held

a much fancier school title like,

"Empress of the Universe"

shelled out 'God's Work'.

An embittered woman

who despised fun,

led the adult bible/prayer meetings

at the school and

prepared the groundwork for,

G. and myself

to come up with creative ideas to ease our toil.

I learned once again in my young life,

that humour and real 'fellowship'

can save a person from madness,

bigotry, narrowmindedness and

blind religious fervor and

to watch out for the word,  'volunteer'...

Jane and Finch Dream DIY_Sleepy Jane's Visit from a Finch

WHY NOT? DIY

ONTARIO GOVERNMENT HAS NO TASTE

Jane Finch House currently on the market_walking distance from Jane Finch Mall 

Sleepy Jane Gets a Visit from a Finch

and wonders why we can't think like a Dane?