improve the world

Volunteering at my public radio station during their pledge drive.

A week ago I was on a beach. Last night I was shoveling 6 inches of fresh snow and grumbling. But when I stepped out this morning to go to work I was stopped by the quiet and cold and loveliness of it all. It reminded me of this poem by Charles Simic:

The North

The ancients knew the sorrows of exile:
If you weren’t hanged, they’d pack you off
To the far ends of the Earth,
To go on grumbling, writing endless petitions
That would never reach the Emperor.

The North always the place of punishment:
Unforgiving cold, rags on your back,
And the company of a few sullen barbarians
At day’s end when the wind parts the clouds
And the stars seem to be mocking.

Every few years a garbled message from home.
Memory paying a call in the wee hours:
A mother’s face; the company of merry friends
At the long table in the garden;
Their wives baring their throats in the afternoon heat…

“The sages suffered, too, exiled from truth,”
That’s what you tell yourself…
Not many are meant to retrace their steps
And behold the splendors of the capital
Even more seductive than when you knew them.

The North always the place of punishment.
Deep snow. Blue-veined trees and bushes
Rising against the pink-colored morning sky…
So that briefly, in that one spell,
Your heartache hushes at the beauty of it.

My job isn’t doing much to improve the world these days, but I hope the literacy tutoring has made an impact (at least on a handful of people). Big question: the next job. Stick with something that pays well and gives me enough free time to do some good, or get into renewable energy?