This morning I got up at 6am, showered, dressed and by 6.30am was sitting by the pool, drinking hot coffee and catching up on some overdue work in peace and quiet. What a wonderful way to start a morning, eh?
After a while my colleague Mike came and joined me (check out Mike's smiling face in the pic). We joked that we don’t often check our mail by the pool - a lovely change from normal office routine. What was most ironic was that this gloriously peaceful scene took place in the Peruvian town of Pisco, in the middle of a community not long ago devastated by an earthquake.
The hotel was pretty good, the shower had been hot and the bed comfortable. We sat protected by a high wall, completely cosseted from the destruction just a few feet away on the other side. It could have been another world. Not long after (having enjoyed a delicious ‘American Breakfast’ of fresh rolls and jam, more coffee, scrambled eggs and ham) we checked out and headed back into the chaos, dodging piles of rubble as we drove to our next port of call.
Some might say the opportunity to withdraw from reality was a welcome break. And believe me; I don’t for one moment underestimate the blessing of being able to stay somewhere comfortable when most of the population of Pisco are still living in tents, wooden huts or derelict buildings and tarpaulins.
Others might describe it as escapism, of course, and those walls got me thinking. What other walls exist in my world? Am I truly honest about the things of my life? Do people know the ‘real’ me, or do I hide the truth behind a wall of deceit? Do I put up barriers around me to shut out things I ought to face up to and deal with?
It’s nice to shut out unpleasant truth, but unless we confront reality we can’t deal with issues. What do I mean by that? Well, here are just a few of the questions that I need to confront honestly:
I could go on and on. Walls - worth a thought, eh?
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