Diamond-Cut Life

I’m still glowing from our long Fourth of July weekend, spent camping on a ‘wild and scenic’ portion of the Klamath River with friends including three children.The kids, five of us adults plus a water-loving dog named Bernie were all thrilled by swimming down a peaceful portion of the river in the hot, golden sunlight, feet first when it got shallow and our bodies every which way when it got deep again, the water initially cold but then feeling like a second skin as it carried us down the tree-lined canyon.

We agreed the river — created by God, in my view, was better than any Disneyland ride.

Mahamudi, our 14 year old friend from Somalia, (Thor and I bought bikes for him and his siblings last year) came over to the house last night for his twice-weekly reading lesson. He read a much more advanced book than usual, sounded out new words better than I’ve ever seen him do before, and as when swimming in the river, I was fairly beside myself with joy.  A year ago when we met him he was struggling with two and three letter words.

We showed Mahamudi the point system we devised while on our camping trip, in which he earns a trip to the coast if he keeps up with his reading all summer. He is on board, determined to earn his points and his trip — he has never been to the coast. His younger brother and sister get to come, too.

I notice that the common thread to all these sources of happiness and satisfaction is that they are woven of nature and community, rather than spending and consumption. Certainly we have to spend and consume in order to live. But it’s possible to put living things, including relationships and rivers, ahead of money and objects. That’s what my pursuit of the Diamond-Cut Life is all about.

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