Two very recent events have been moulded by my LR-5ers, Kelly and Ryan. The first - which is fitting for the date of this post, is the holiday, July 4th. I have never been a fan of fireworks, I’ve never understood noise for the sake of noise. Two reasons - one is that I’m an HSP. For those of you who don’t know me and don’t know what an HSP is, I would ask that you go to http://www.hsperson.com and learn about HSPs. Approximately 20% of the population are HSPs and if you know me, you know it’s my ‘cause’ in this life - to educate people about this trait (more about that another time). Kelly will tell you that noise is my undoing. Secondly, I was born in England and I come from a different culture - one that is (or was) naturally quiet (again, another story for another time).
I spoke to Kelly today and she told me the PCVs were being treated to hamburgers in honor of 4th July. She also told me that the Liberian equivalent is July 26th but they don’t celebrate with fireworks because after 16 years of civil war, most Liberians (most likely) suffer from some sort of PTSD. I can completely understand this. I remember being at the Cape (Cape Cod) with my mum and some teenagers were setting off fireworks on the beach. My mum grew up in London during WWII. I had never, in all my years, seen my mother afraid of anything and the look on her face when she heard the screech of the fireworks was something I’ll never, ever forget… I didn’t know whether to hold her tight or run to the beach and yell at the kids to stop - it was so dreadfully terrifying to me. Not liking the noise myself didn’t help but the helpless look of fear on my mum’s face was even worse. Today is July 4th and my heart goes out to other HSPs and to anybody who suffers from PTSD and has had to endure what I did tonight - the horrible, terrifying sound of fireworks.
The second event that has been influenced remotely by the LR-5s is my very conscious response to my ‘stuff’. You see, I just moved (JUST - as in yesterday…). As I open and unpack boxes that have been stored - some for close to 9 months, I look in wonder at why I thought the item was important or why I ever owned it. I tend to ‘collect’ - not in a weird way like having boxes of string marked ’String - too short to save’, but I’m a fiber artist and a designer so I do have a lot of art supplies - those I don’t question - EVER. I also love to cook which has resulted in ‘gadgets’. But why so many? Is it necessary…? I’m a plant-strong foodie so sharp knives are essential (I took a knife handling class and am now a knife snob - really…?). I own a Vitamix (of course) and a Cuisinart - are they both necessary? Is either necessary…? I find myself looking at my ‘stuff’ and thinking I somehow got things backwards - how did this happen? I don’t come from a culture of ‘stuff’ - I grew up valuing people over material possessions, so why do I have so much of it?
As I unpack, I find myself dividing things up. A pile to sell, a pile to give to someone who could use it and a pile of stuff to go through later (because yes, I like to procrastinate too). The second pile - the stuff to give away, is currently the largest and I think it will continue to be that way. I look at everything a little differently now - with a bit of an LR-5 lens. I feel like I am overwhelmingly fortunate to have this amazing advantage - I can now see beyond the ‘stuff’, I have a new vantage point thanks to some amazing PCVs.
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