My Yoda?
Today was my last day of work at SoCal Electronics. In case you don't know I worked there last summer with answering the phone and lifting a few boxes here and there, then this summer they transferred me to the warehouse where I would permanently be lifting boxes. Yesterday I informed them that I would be leaving today for the UCLA Summer Program I am attending in August starting the 6th. During the school year I was summoned in the college office and was asked to be interviewed for this African-American program at UCLA where we would stay in the dorms for three weeks and earn scholarships for participating in the academics of the program. I went into the interview and they were impressed with my unweighted 3.8 GPA and all the clubs I was involved in and constructed.
But that's beside the point of my story.
So today I walked into work and vacuumed as I always did in the morning. Then this short guy with a wife-beater strapped in a back-supporter walks in the kitchen -- next to the hallway I was vacuuming -- and says "hi" to everyone in the office. I recognize him almost immediately by his swagger and figure alone: good ol' Abraham, the man who had warehouse duty before I.
After vacuuming I directed my feet to the hot-ass warehouse, anticipating another long and hot day. Soon after, as I was raising a few 27'' TVs on top of each other, Abraham steps in the warehouse and does his own thing on the far end of the warehouse. Eventually, after ten minutes, I'm called to deal with some defective items which keeps my busy until lunch -- which was pasta :-). With my lunch all in my belly, I strolled around the office looking for things to busy myself with. Then I realized that I finally had some support in the warehouse and I be assisting Abraham with moving those huge TVs for the greedy rich people. When I went in he was gazing around the warehouse, analyzing, calculating. He sees me and instantly asks me for help to lift these big 50'' Plasmas on top of the other. We worked perfectly together, as a unit. We titled and lifted and hauled around the boxes in sync with each others movements. Almost at the same moment as we dropped the last box down I was called again and have to run an errand to the nearby liquor store to pick up some popsicles for the people in the office who were so hot but still had an air conditioner (Abraham and I had nothing but the heat). When I come back I sweep up the warehouse and Abraham has some troubles with some highly stacked boxes about to hit a hanging light on the ceiling. After gaping at the obstacle a while he decides to wait for a fork lift to arrive. Then an idea strikes me like an idea to Blank Man (hehe, ya'll don't know nothin' about no Blank Man).
Why don't I climb on the boxes and pull them away from the light!
Little did I know this was my first test without any training that I didn't know I needed.
With all the boxes down and moved successfully away from hitting the light he tells me I did a good job and I felt like I did as well and in a long time in forever, felt good in being at work. I wasn't expecting to do as well as I did, just try. But there is no try, is there? ;-) As we moved the very tall stack of boxes away to the corner previously vacated by those 50'' Plasma he tells me of the Aztecs and how they moved big things around as we had done. The Aztecs were his ancestors and his father would tell him stories of how they would make those gargantuan structures by using there brains, the biggest muscles in their body.
So for the next hour he teaches me of the tactics used by the Aztecs and how they used ones center to haul around hefty boulders -- or boxes -- such as the ones we were lifting. Then he showed me a way to find my center in balance by placing my hands on the ground, pinning my elbows to the insides of my knees and letting my feet raise from the ground, nearly on my head, as he spoke over my shoulder, encouraging, peacefully speaking to me and giving me pointers. Of coarse, I fell over on my side or my head a few times buy eventually I could feel my center become more potent as I attempted to do the practice again and again. But training was cut short by boxes that had to be moved out the way to make room for TVs to slide out of the warehouse.
I was ready for anything and would complete my training and finding my center after the task was completed.
But I wasn't ready to move an even higher stack of boxes and cut myself across the back of my thumb. Abraham scolded me in silences for not trusting my center and his teachings. I seemed not to have faith in center's balance and relied on my brute strength alone.
Feeling a little wounded, psychologically and physically, I went to take a restroom break and think about all that stuff Abraham taught me with centering my balance and all.
So I nearly come back to the warehouse to practice but am given a task to do on my own: to load two 50'' Panasonic Plasma onto the back of a truck. So I drag the two of them outside and used my center, my whole body in unison to lift it but that would not be possible. Instead I would lift the box onto one point of its four ends on the ground, tilt it vertically up on the back of the truck's tail-gate and used my knee, finding its and my center in compliance with the box leaned on the truck. Essentially I found the potential of all the components involved to lift a very heavy box onto a truck. All because of my training and trust in all thing's balances. Abraham was watching me and congratulated me from behind enthusiastically.
In all that time I couldn't help but notice on my bus ride home how well the relationship and events between Abraham and I connected to the relationship between Yoda and Luke in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. First though, I felt as if I was in A New Hope in the battle of the Yavin 4 on the Death Star as Luke. I felt accidentally involved in the situation of moving the highly stacked boxes as Luke got involved with the Rebel Alliance accidentally (or by the will of the Force if you will) and attacked the Death Star (let it be known that Luke never tried to join the Rebel Alliance, he wanted to join the Academy, and then wanted be a Jedi like his father, but never did he expect to join the Alliance. That is until he got caught up with rescuing Princess Leia Organa and all). Luke and I fell into these roles that we didn't expect to be in.Luke expected to stay on another harvest season with his Uncle and his moisture farm on Tatooine; and I expected another uneventful and lackluster day in the warehouse, but we both found success in our unintended situations. I with the boxes; Luke, destroying the Death Star. Second, I felt as if I were in Empire Strikes Back on Dagobah immediately as I found a mentor in Abraham. It really became intense nostalgia when I found myself nearly balancing on my head with my mentor talking over my should with such tranquility. I found myself one with my center of balance as Luke felt one with the Force as his Master Jedi mentored him on top of the sole of Luke's foot as he balanced on his hands. Third connection I made was neither Luke nor I completed our training before proceeding to another task. I went on to challenge heftier boxes as Luke went on to challenge the great Lord Vader. There was also the connection of the wounds we inflicted from these tasks we were not ready for, I with the cut on my thumb and overconfidence and Luke with his hand and realization of Vader being his father. Last, without any further training, but with the mistakes we learned from our last failures, we set out with our final task, or toughest yet. We relied on our training and applied it to what it is we were doing. I had to load two very massive 50'' Plasmas onto a truck and Luke had to confront Vader, his enemy, the definition of evil, his father.
We both prevailed!
I'd like to thank people and creatures like Abraham and Yoda. Remember:
"Do, or do not. There is no try."
May the force be with us all, always. And may we all find our center.
But that's beside the point of my story.
So today I walked into work and vacuumed as I always did in the morning. Then this short guy with a wife-beater strapped in a back-supporter walks in the kitchen -- next to the hallway I was vacuuming -- and says "hi" to everyone in the office. I recognize him almost immediately by his swagger and figure alone: good ol' Abraham, the man who had warehouse duty before I.
After vacuuming I directed my feet to the hot-ass warehouse, anticipating another long and hot day. Soon after, as I was raising a few 27'' TVs on top of each other, Abraham steps in the warehouse and does his own thing on the far end of the warehouse. Eventually, after ten minutes, I'm called to deal with some defective items which keeps my busy until lunch -- which was pasta :-). With my lunch all in my belly, I strolled around the office looking for things to busy myself with. Then I realized that I finally had some support in the warehouse and I be assisting Abraham with moving those huge TVs for the greedy rich people. When I went in he was gazing around the warehouse, analyzing, calculating. He sees me and instantly asks me for help to lift these big 50'' Plasmas on top of the other. We worked perfectly together, as a unit. We titled and lifted and hauled around the boxes in sync with each others movements. Almost at the same moment as we dropped the last box down I was called again and have to run an errand to the nearby liquor store to pick up some popsicles for the people in the office who were so hot but still had an air conditioner (Abraham and I had nothing but the heat). When I come back I sweep up the warehouse and Abraham has some troubles with some highly stacked boxes about to hit a hanging light on the ceiling. After gaping at the obstacle a while he decides to wait for a fork lift to arrive. Then an idea strikes me like an idea to Blank Man (hehe, ya'll don't know nothin' about no Blank Man).
Why don't I climb on the boxes and pull them away from the light!
Little did I know this was my first test without any training that I didn't know I needed.
With all the boxes down and moved successfully away from hitting the light he tells me I did a good job and I felt like I did as well and in a long time in forever, felt good in being at work. I wasn't expecting to do as well as I did, just try. But there is no try, is there? ;-) As we moved the very tall stack of boxes away to the corner previously vacated by those 50'' Plasma he tells me of the Aztecs and how they moved big things around as we had done. The Aztecs were his ancestors and his father would tell him stories of how they would make those gargantuan structures by using there brains, the biggest muscles in their body.
So for the next hour he teaches me of the tactics used by the Aztecs and how they used ones center to haul around hefty boulders -- or boxes -- such as the ones we were lifting. Then he showed me a way to find my center in balance by placing my hands on the ground, pinning my elbows to the insides of my knees and letting my feet raise from the ground, nearly on my head, as he spoke over my shoulder, encouraging, peacefully speaking to me and giving me pointers. Of coarse, I fell over on my side or my head a few times buy eventually I could feel my center become more potent as I attempted to do the practice again and again. But training was cut short by boxes that had to be moved out the way to make room for TVs to slide out of the warehouse.
I was ready for anything and would complete my training and finding my center after the task was completed.
But I wasn't ready to move an even higher stack of boxes and cut myself across the back of my thumb. Abraham scolded me in silences for not trusting my center and his teachings. I seemed not to have faith in center's balance and relied on my brute strength alone.
Feeling a little wounded, psychologically and physically, I went to take a restroom break and think about all that stuff Abraham taught me with centering my balance and all.
So I nearly come back to the warehouse to practice but am given a task to do on my own: to load two 50'' Panasonic Plasma onto the back of a truck. So I drag the two of them outside and used my center, my whole body in unison to lift it but that would not be possible. Instead I would lift the box onto one point of its four ends on the ground, tilt it vertically up on the back of the truck's tail-gate and used my knee, finding its and my center in compliance with the box leaned on the truck. Essentially I found the potential of all the components involved to lift a very heavy box onto a truck. All because of my training and trust in all thing's balances. Abraham was watching me and congratulated me from behind enthusiastically.
In all that time I couldn't help but notice on my bus ride home how well the relationship and events between Abraham and I connected to the relationship between Yoda and Luke in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. First though, I felt as if I was in A New Hope in the battle of the Yavin 4 on the Death Star as Luke. I felt accidentally involved in the situation of moving the highly stacked boxes as Luke got involved with the Rebel Alliance accidentally (or by the will of the Force if you will) and attacked the Death Star (let it be known that Luke never tried to join the Rebel Alliance, he wanted to join the Academy, and then wanted be a Jedi like his father, but never did he expect to join the Alliance. That is until he got caught up with rescuing Princess Leia Organa and all). Luke and I fell into these roles that we didn't expect to be in.Luke expected to stay on another harvest season with his Uncle and his moisture farm on Tatooine; and I expected another uneventful and lackluster day in the warehouse, but we both found success in our unintended situations. I with the boxes; Luke, destroying the Death Star. Second, I felt as if I were in Empire Strikes Back on Dagobah immediately as I found a mentor in Abraham. It really became intense nostalgia when I found myself nearly balancing on my head with my mentor talking over my should with such tranquility. I found myself one with my center of balance as Luke felt one with the Force as his Master Jedi mentored him on top of the sole of Luke's foot as he balanced on his hands. Third connection I made was neither Luke nor I completed our training before proceeding to another task. I went on to challenge heftier boxes as Luke went on to challenge the great Lord Vader. There was also the connection of the wounds we inflicted from these tasks we were not ready for, I with the cut on my thumb and overconfidence and Luke with his hand and realization of Vader being his father. Last, without any further training, but with the mistakes we learned from our last failures, we set out with our final task, or toughest yet. We relied on our training and applied it to what it is we were doing. I had to load two very massive 50'' Plasmas onto a truck and Luke had to confront Vader, his enemy, the definition of evil, his father.
We both prevailed!
I'd like to thank people and creatures like Abraham and Yoda. Remember:
"Do, or do not. There is no try."
May the force be with us all, always. And may we all find our center.