There are plots and subplots. Which is which is often impossible to discern. Former Denver Mayor Bill Vidal is our next speaker on Aha Moments. The plot is laid out in the title of his talk: An Immigrant’s Journey and in the copy we have prepared: “Born in Cuba to a wealthy family, Bill Vidal and his brothers were sent to Florida in 1961 and then transported to an orphanage in Pueblo. Overcoming the personal struggles of his uprooted childhood, he became one of Colorado’s most influential civil servants. Author of Boxing for Cuba, he will share his journey overcoming obstacles—both personally and professionally.”

As always though there are so many subplots—those intersecting lines that are beneath the main storyline. Of course, subplots can require unearthing. So I began to dig and immediately the following story surfaced.

As is true for many people who have faced early separations and loss—change is not a welcome opportunity—it is often a frightening prospect. In 2004 Bill Vidal was finishing his fifth year as head of the Denver Regional Council of Governments when John Hickenlooper offered him to join the Mayor’s Office to head Public Works for the city. Bill turned the Mayor down three times but told the Mayor, who would not take no for an answer, he would think about it.

That night, Bill and his wife Gabriela were watching the film, “The Man from Elysian Fields.” At one point in the film, a man Vidal describes as “skinny and lanky” comes out of a restaurant and helps actor Andy Garcia’s character into his coat. “My wife says, ‘That’s Hickenlooper’ and I say, ‘It’s not.’”

Indeed, Gabriela’s instinct was correct—the Mayor of Denver had been given a small cameo by his director cousin, George Hickenlooper.

Bill’s response upon seeing the credits and the director’s name: “It’s a sign! It’s a sign from God!” and he sought out the Mayor the next day to accept the job.

I never heard of this film, “The Man from Elysian Fields” so I watched the trailer. It did not include the scene where John Hickenlooper is holding a coat. The film though addresses change as both frightening and risky as well as an opportunity to dig deeper into who we are, or can be, than if we follow the same plot.

I don’t know what other Aha Moments Mr. Vidal will share with us—but this is one subplot I look forward to discussing with him.

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It was the kind of accident that makes you avert your eyes…how could there be any survivors?

It happened last Thursday afternoon on a curved stretch of California Highway 101, north of Santa Barbara. A small car, a BMW sedan, was mangled beyond recognition. The other vehicle, a big-rig truck, landed in ravine 100-feet below. Its driver, Charles Allison, was killed. Police say the truck had rear-ended the car.

“The BMW was then forced into the center concrete wall where the three parties in the BMW became trapped in the vehicle,” said Danny Maher, California Highway Patrol.

The family was trapped and alive, but the shredded vehicle hung precariously as the afternoon wore on over the ravine 100 feet below. First grade teacher, Kelly Lynn Groves, said her daughters were with her; ten-year old Sage and 10-month-old Milo. Seatbelts, airbags and the baby’s car seat had all done their jobs. And dozens of first responders such as fire, rescue, police and hazmat teams, did theirs while facing multiple dangers to themselves, and the car’s occupants.

“Each time we tried to pry her out, the car kept slipping a little bit more,” said Woody Enos, Santa Barbara Fire Department.

On Tuesday, Karen Frankel shared in class this story that she said is a beautiful example of a “Kabbalah Experience.”  So, I googled car crash 101 and the first link I opened was about a car crash on the 101 on February 28, 1999. In that crash, the car went over the edge of the cliff and both parents died. There was a miracle on that day as well, baby Tania, 16 months old, was pulled from the wreck—she had hung upside down in her fastened car seat for 5 hours.

We talked in class about the intersecting of billions of ‘events’ at any moment that lead to life and to death—the miraculous nature of synchronicity, an awareness we develop from seeing the interconnectedness of  what happens in and from our life. The Kabbalah perspective is to enlarge our awareness to not only choices (such as securing babies in car seats) we make, it extends as well to the choices others make; all are providentially guided.  Parallel lines that intersect—one line plummeting to death and the other line lifting to life.

Here is the rest of the story of the rescue of Kelly Lynn, Sage and Milo Groves (the news video is worth watching – click here)

Then there was an amazing stroke of luck. A team of Navy Seabees just happened to come across the scene. In their convoy was a heavy-duty forklift with a telescoping arm. Exactly what was needed!

The rescue workers secured the car underneath with the forklift and were able to stand on the car and extract the Groves from their car.

“Extremely lucky. We were really lucky that they came by,” said Enos.

Luck is known by another name. We call it a Kabbalah Experience.

Today marks a very important moment. It is a day to thank Diana Kaplan for her wonderful service to our organization for the past three years. It is the day she is leaving us for other rewarding endeavors. No matter what, Diana welcomes with a smile. Her warmth and generous spirit will be missed. Thank you Di for all you have done for us.

There is a term called an “epipha-sight.”  You won’t find it in the dictionary. If it found its way there, it would be right between the words epiphany and insight. It is defined by its originator, Ari Hoffman, as more than an insight but not quite an epiphany.  Over the semester break I had one of them. The epipha-sight is about living in the present moment.

In Questions to a Zen Master, Taisen Deshimaru explains that, “If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.” That always seemed to me to be an extreme statement and it seemed to leave little room for a sad or depressed or angry moment, hour or few days.  So I was mediating on the meaning of the Zen Master’s words and just let go of the word happy and I heard it say: “If you are not here and now, you never will be.”

Raising children is a very here and now experience and yet there is always a tendency to project into the future. So as I was looking into Eva and Isabel’s faces it became clear, “I am here and now with you—this is not preparation for anything or anticipation of milestones to be reached—I am caring and loving you and that is happiness.” It was and is a moment of liberation of my thought, an epipha-sight that the next moment and the next moment are lived fully by being in the here and now.

As the Broncos’ Thomas galloped into the end zone I heard, in the midst jubilation, a steady stream of: “And now we are going to get crushed by the Patriots.”  It is our tendency to not be here and now. And when we aren’t, we lose the opportunity to be happy—what a pass and what a gallop. Next week is another game, another present moment.  There will be plenty of diaper changes between now and then.

Happily,

Here. Now.

Blame

to hold responsible; find fault with; censure, to place the responsibility for (a fault, error, etc.) (usually followed by on ): I blame the accident on her.

Accountable

subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.

______________

I had an interaction with someone yesterday who said: “Why are you trying to find someone to blame?”  My mental note during the conversation was, “Am I finding blame or fault with someone for an outcome I was not pleased with or did I want accountability for actions that would lead to a better outcome next time?”

In a culture so averse to blame we prefer the word accountable. If we try to shame another person through blame, clearly then, we need to be accountable for our blaming, rather than holding the other person in the esteem they deserve while working toward a better outcome.

Yesterday, Anne Goldberg and I had the pleasure of introducing Kabbalah study to a table full of people responding to our free introduction. A question that has now recurred during many introductions is: “How does the study of Kabbalah affect your life?” One of the attendees had her own answer based on what Anne and I had been talking about—she wondered aloud if Kabbalah study led to an awareness of the mystery in one’s life. She was focusing on the mystery of one’s latent potentials that could be awakened through a deeper understanding of self.

As I sit today reflecting on lessons learned yesterday, I would also suggest (as I did during the introductory class) that Kabbalah study, if truly effective, leads to greater accountability for one’s actions. The person who challenged me about “finding blame” argued that it is not productive to blame. I agree.  Accountability for self and holding others accountable is productive. It may be the most productive thing we can do to awaken the latent potentials hidden in the mysteries of our life.