'On Call' For Collapse (Carolyn Baker and Kathleen Byrne)

[Tace]

Kathleen with her backyard chicken, Rhubarb

It's time to act with great intention. There's work aplenty to do in this weary world and people engaged in that work. Find those people. --Tim Bennett, "What A Way To Go: Life At The End of Empire"

Dec. 28, 2009 (CarolynBaker.net) -- To everything there is a season, the biblical bard says. There is a time to sit and be, and there is a time to act. Personally, I could not live without the balance of sitting and listening alongside doing what I feel most called to do, and I encourage everyone in my world to incorporate a meditation or mindfulness practice to complement the conscious work that fulfills their purpose.

As institutions crumble and the global economic meltdown worsens and morphs into irreversible collapse, many people feel lost and disoriented, especially if they have lost jobs, healthcare, experienced foreclosure or bankruptcy, and of course, if they have lost the funds which they may have spent decades assuming would be there for them in retirement. The seemingly endless losses of collapse can be terrifying and paralyzing, and it is always easier to complain about the culture than to take action to empower oneself and serve the rest of the community of life on this planet. It may also be tempting to assume that since collapse is inevitable and now moving along unstoppably with a life of its own, there isn't any point in exerting any effort to alleviate the misery it is manifesting everywhere by compassionately serving others, even those who may know or care little about collapse. On one level, it is easier to just sit than to act.

One woman who does not embrace that perspective and who beautifully exemplifies empowerment and service is Kathleen Byrne, R.N., who works essentially two full-time jobs as a hospice nurse and as the proprietor of a cheery boarding house and hostel in rural Vermont. Despite numerous challenges in the past year, Kathleen has been able to thrive by working in two industries which not only pay the bills but feed her soul, namely, hospice care and hospitality. A former restaurant owner and gourmet chef, she offers housing but also serves up a sumptuous cuisine which enhances the feeling of home her guests already experience.

I can't help notice that the words hospitality and hospice come from the same root word having to do with kindness toward guests. For this reason, Kathleen's two jobs complement each other, and she is the perfect person to perform and embellish both tasks.

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