Serenity Now!

For many of us, the weekend stands as a precious oasis within a desert of routine and obligation. Alarm clocks, meetings, trains, car pools and a variety of other factors force us to be somewhere at a certain time from Monday to Friday. On bad weeks, by Friday, you’ve become exhausted with the routine of your commute and with the burden of your responsibilities. These are the days where the fact that you spend five days at work and only two at play seems like a cruel irony and a bitter injustice.

I’d like to be a Buddhist. I’d like to think of myself as a blade of grass - going through life allowing the wind to push me to and fro. Rising again as the rain falls upon me even after a shoe has trampled me into the ground. But I have to come to terms with the idea that my version of being a Buddhist may be somewhat narrow. Perhaps Buddhism is not limited to wishing bad karma on those who annoy me? Maybe asking someone to “get the hell out of my way” on the streetcar is not a Zen approach to life?

These are days when the distance between the person I’d like to be, and the person I am acting like feels very great indeed. When someone does something mean or stupid to me and instead of letting it go, I allow it to ruin my day. It would be nice if there were a magic bullet for not letting people get to you, for just letting it all wash over you. Yet instead of taking the high road all the time, I find myself sinking below the standard I’d like to think is mine. Where I call someone names or make rude allegations about their mother (and often, not even to their face where they could at least defend her honour).

Ultimately, I think that’s why we need the weekend - that two-day hiatus from dealing with other people’s problems. Knowing that tomorrow I’ll get up and hang out with Mr. Titswiggle in the sunshine (or not) of our living room, lingering over cups of coffee and making no great plans for the day makes it a little easier to bear the realities of public transit, sneaky colleagues and my insurmountable workload today. I hate to resort to clichés but thank god it's Friday!