Create, Build and Rebuild

        Okay, I think I have my act together again, this week.  Well, not really, but at least in the sense that I found a perfect quote for the things I've been wanting to share, and while I never know what I'll end up actually having shared, at least it's a great start!  So let's get started, shall we? 

        I'm one of those creative, artistic and even, "crafty people".  You know the type: they have found a means of figuring out ways to create stuff out of other stuff, in ways that can be functional, but often kind of attractive, too - or, perhaps the other way around!  While I do not have a section of the PB Pinterest Boards set for "DIY", if you are on Pinterest you already know what I mean.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  After all, I did just say I *am* a type of creative person, and I would not want to reject my own kind.  Having also been known to actually participate in that sort of project, I can't exactly condemn anyone like a hypocrite, either.  Ahem.  

        However, there is more to creativity and crafting than just that.  And finally, I've arrived at the point at which the quote comes in handy!

In a time of destruction, create something.

~ Maxine Hong Kingston

        This, particular quote I'm sharing this week actually fits, despite seeming a bit more extreme than would be appropriate.  In fact, when I read it, I chuckled, because there are many contexts wherein it can apply beautifully, even in my own, personal life!  Since this blog is mostly my demonstrating through my own perspective how we are not alone in this life, my relating it to my own, personal experience is probably the best way to approach it.  I think I may just go with something a bit simpler than every context, though, since this will no doubt be a long enough, ramblebabbling post, as it is.

          I've discussed a number of times, that the reasons which started the PB Project came originally from a promise I made to my life, back when I was a young teen.  Even back then I'd read and attended meetings by people who were examples of powerful forces for good in the lives of others, and I knew that somehow, I wanted to make the difference in somebody else's life, too.  It may have been having talked a friend though a night of near-death experience that inspired me to realize that I could have a positive influence on the world, somehow, and if that meant having to suffer so I could understand it, and have empathy, then so be it.

        Over the years, from time to time I've kind of wished I'd not been so convicted in that promise, because as I've experienced one, insane type of battle after another, it would have been nice to just settle back into obscurity and become another shadow who flickers across this planet briefly, then disappears.  As annoying as it can be, that is not my personality, and not my life's purpose, so on we go.  

But what of the idea of this quote, "In a time of destruction, create something"?

        Perhaps that is what I mean by different contexts give different answers.  "Destruction" can be any of many kinds of things.  When I've felt the pangs of bitter rejection from my peers or other entities/opportunities, that creativity has come in the form of finding new ways of coping by creating new connections and finding new opportunities of different substance.  When I've grieved some kind of loss, it has come by creating ways to cope and move forward, til I could stand on my feet again.  When my body began the process of failing me, it has become a matter of finding creative measures to continue to do what I can, even having to find ways around my struggling points: getting kitchen tools which allow me to open cans and bottles, etc..  

        Even the PB Project itself is a way for me to turn various forms of "destruction" into creative means of moving forward.  In a workshop a few months ago, I came to realize in new ways, things I'd experienced early had left me more than a bit confused, and so as the years progressed, things kinda got muddled there in the middle.

        So then, at some point in the middle in the muddle, I began to pull myself together again, much like the strange mush that turns caterpillar into butterfly, and eventually I emerged to breathe again, sort of.  I might as well use that metaphor, given all.  I suppose you could also say that I basically rebirthed, much like the little phoenix who rises from the ashes.  Because if you've wondered about the name of the PB Project... there you go.

        In a way, I suppose I actually created myself out of destruction.  And isn't that the way it goes?  We live our lives, and things happen to us, and suddenly we are kind of forced by the directional functions of nature into becoming something new, and it is our prerogative to make active choices to mold ourselves into something we love and appreciate.  Our lives are ours to form and function, and even when we have things we cannot do, we still have wonderful things to share, do and contribute.  It doesn't matter what anyone has said about us, nor what we have had to experience, because no matter what we have in our way that tears us down, we can still rebuild.

In a time of destruction, create something.

        Better days ahead, my friends!