Extreme Kindness

Erik's Journal

Date: Monday, October 14th, 2002. (I'm thankful)

Geography: My 2nd floor hotel room at the Sandalwood Inn, (just outside of Toronto). Sitting on the couch listening to The The.

Point form day: Up at 7:00 to host a free Thanksgiving Breakfast at the Sandalwood Inn -Gave away free Happy Planet Juice at a local intersection -Dropped off and sorted HEAPS of food at a local food bank -made lunch at the hotel -went to Progress Place and served Thanksgiving dinner, returned to work on the computer.

Highlight of the day: My highlight of the day was generally feeling like crap mentally at the beginning of the day and coming to the realization at the end of the day that there are some wonderfully intelligent people implementing fantastic ideas. It showed me that there are other forward thinking people in the world working to make this world a better place. Bravo!

Most inspiring moment: Volunteering at Progress Place. This is truly one of the most revolutionary places on the planet. Progress Place is "a restorative environment in which individuals with severe and persistent mental illness can be helped to achieve or regain the confidence and skills necessary to lead vocationally productive and socially satisfying lives." I can't even begin to tell you how thoroughly impressed I am. It is so exciting to see practical solutions to real problems being put into use. It is a thriving community of fantastic people. If you live in Toronto (or even happen to be traveling by) go down to their place on Church st. and ask Dave to give you a tour. Or check their website at http://www.progressplace.org

Shout outs: Dave, thank you my friend, you are truly a wonderful tour guide. Kim, thanks for being someone who had supported us across the country. We all think you are fantastic. Bren, thanks for calling. You are a wonderful girl.

Classic quote: "Hey there snuggle buddy!" -Myself to Val as we both tried to squeeze a nap in the cluttered back of the RV. It was ridiculous. We were both super tired and did not have energy to move all the signs, shoes and boxes covering at least 60% of the bed so had to both try and nap in one cramped slice of the mattress.

My crux: The 180 people killed in Bali. These people are us. They are young travelers, people out in the world learning, adventure seekers. It leaves me feeling powerless to do anything and provokes me to question if what we are doing is a drastic enough positive to effect some very negatives in the world.

Physically speaking: Not too bad.

Mental stimulation: Finally! I have been reading a lot. I have been meeting and talking to inspiring and stimulating people! The trip to Progress Place inspired me. I AM ALIVE!

Big laughs: Val and I had some great laughs today. We laughed about a lot of nothing but manalive it felt great.

When I finished writing this I was: Listening to "Love Love LOOOVE, is stronger ...." By The The.