Tempered Steel, Wounded Healer,

temper Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility.  

Gone through the fire, wounded healer, tempered steel, AA sponsor. I was watching my friend Greeley, who is devoted to a substantial meditation practice, return to his work on his computer time and again after being interrupted with urgent business. He was calm and cheerful about each situation that presented itself. He also didn't lose his train of thought. At the same moment, I was finding myself extremely distracted by this business in Syria. "This is no time to be distracted or thrown off." I said to myself.

The question that came to me was "Whom we would turn toward in a time of real crisis?" My friend, John Gardner, used to say to people who had survived and thrived after extremely difficult situations that they were now ready to be of help to others. They were tempered steel, much stronger than the original metals.

I thought of the Dalai Lama. I thought of Desmond Tutu. I thought of Nelson Mandala. I thought of Gandhi. I thought of MLK. They never lost their heads, their hope, their love for the oppressed and the oppressors no matter how fucked up a situation was thrown at them.

I will assume that they all had a dark night of the soul just as AA people who take the time and love to sponsor a struggling alcoholic does. I assume that they had a dark night of the soul just as a therapist who has struggled with depression has. I assume that they have had a dark night of the soul as profound as the person who has been transformed from an ordinary soldier into a peace activist.

I think a meaningful message is, whether through meditation or prayer or through living through hell, that staying in your integrity and putting aside your ego lets you be the person who can best serve others. Thanks Greeley.