Prospective Immigrants - Please Note

I found a poem written by Adrienne Rich, a few years ago,  and have often reflected on the message of the poem and also often shared it to others. The title of the poem is the title I have chosen for this post, "Prospective Immigrants - Please Note."

Wow, what are our options when we are confronted with a problem; when a new opportunity appears in front of us;  when our expectations are unrealistic and therefore not met, when things are just not what we planned?

One writer has stated that "Every problem has a gift in its' hand."  Sometime that is kind of hard to see, isn't it?  It certainly has been for me, at times.

I spent several days on site at Vectra Fibers in Odenton MD in February of 1982, as a professional person of support, as Chevron was closing the site after many years of operation and its recent acquisition by Chevron.  In some cases, there were three generations of workers at the site from one family.  I did some writing and some thinking during those days which included many conversations with the individual employees, as they were receiving the message that they would be leaving Vectra Fiber and struggling with their confusion, their anger, and their options..  I quoted in an earlier blog, one of the poems I had written, "Apostasy or Enlightenment", and now add another:

On Losing - In Retrospect
                                                                                                    R. Bernie Johnson Odenton, MD 1982

The words keep bouncing off my ears -
I don't hear what they are saying.
I heard at first, "The PLANT is closed,
We'll pay you well for leaving."

The plant is closed!  The plant is closed!
I can't just walk away.
What right have you to make this choice?
What if I want to stay?

But you did -- have the right,
and I did -- have to choose.
Not the choices
I would like to have made,
But choices far more reaching in my life
For which I felt helpless - and afraid.

________________________________

I marvel as I look back now,
on that painful, frightening day,
The fear, the pain, the uncertainty -
have now all gone away.
But that took time - and reaching down
for resources oft not used -
that helped me identify my strengths, and function less confused.

I found that "I", apart from "job", 
was a wholly functioning person.
I could live and breathe and problem solve -
and that was a powerful lesson.

So I say, "Thanks, old boss, for what you've done,
I've grown because of you,"
I had to get in touch with me,
and work some feelings through.

But I've done that now, and I'm ahead - 
that's true for others too.
I wonder, though, what will come next - 
to strengthen me and you?

And now - Adrienne Rich:  "Perspective Immigrants - Please Note"

Either you will go through this door
     or you will not go through.

        If you go through
   There is always the risk
 of remembering your name.

Things look at you doubly
 and you must look back
  and let them happen.

If you do not go through,
       it is possible---

       To live worthily-
To maintain your attitudes -
   to hold your position-
         to die bravely.

But much will blind you
   much will evade you-

     At what cost - who knows?
The door  itself makes no promises -
               it is only a door.

Enjoy every day, look for the brass ring in each situation.  Look for and find the gift  waiting in the hand.  Thank you for being part of my life.   Bob  09/08/2012