i stand and look out at the wonder that is the world. beneath my feet, embedded in my flip flops are the peeples of discomfort, the ignorance of sand and the wet and wild world we call earth. in four short days, my journey will officially end. in four short days, i will return to new york city.
it's been seven months from my bed, my friends, my "stuff," and any notion of disposable income. i know little has changed; i know i am not the same. as the days wind down i face another moment of reflection. each passing mirrored moment, i see a million lessons wrapped into one epic journey.
but for this this morning, my brain feels a bit scattered. maybe it's the strong texas coffee. maybe it's my body still recovering from Barcamp TX and three nights of restless sleep. maybe it's the fact that i now see my footsteps as a thin film of butter on a global piece of rye toast...
maybe it's the understanding that for everyday after next, the job gets tougher and tougher. no longer can i skate bye and say, i'm skimming the global ice. now it's time to tighten up the laces, grab the hockey stick and summarize my understanding into the back of a net.
for the past two weeks, dr miggy has given me the gift of love and a small little space to carve out my ice sculpture. a week from now, i will be penniless in geneva while having the honor to help host the open stage conversations at LIFT. subsequently, i will get five minutes to present my sculpture. :)
...but before the moderate temperatures of time start to melt my understanding of the world, the following are the seven lessons of this journey...
"if you scratch your own itch with an open mind, you'll find the world feels the same relief."- dries and the global drupal community.
"when facing goliath, bring your own sling shot." - egyptian linux users group; open source software users in egypt.
"video killed the radio star - citizen video units and citizen journalism transforms our definition of literacy." - video volunteers and drishti; alive in baghdad; epicfu
"give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life."- khmer OS; tactical technology collective
"a hug will take you around the world and transform everything you touch." - juan mann of free hugs; the global free culture movement.
"play together and we learn more from others than ourselves."- meetups, dev weekends, unconfrences and collaborative productivity spaces (ie barcamp and coworking)
"the end of the world is a great place to put ideas on their head." - cowork central; providence in ushuaia
(btw,i originally started to break out each lesson via continent, but quickly discovered that the lessons were mirrored everywhere. these seven lessons are will grow to be the basis of the children's book and the documentary film.)
