Pause for Purpose

Mark K October 19th, 2007

There is a strike in France today. The newspaper says that it was an especially bad day for the French president. He and his wife announced their divorce, and transit workers throughout the country have gone on strike to protest reductions in retirement plans for public workers.
How has that affected me? First of all, I have blisters on both of my feet, and secondly, it has reminded me that I need to slow down.
Actually, it took three things to remind me to slow down. The first, was the aforementioned blisters, caused by marching from my hotel, along the Seine to the D’Orsay museum (closed due to the strike) and then another mile or two to the Eiffel Tower. Then it was my wife, reminding me that I was the guy who was all about pausing, not running from sight to sight with my nose buried in a guidebook. But the last reminder was the most mysterious - a rugby ball which seemingly flew into my hand from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
After trudging to the Eiffel Tower, I was determined to get a good picture. Because of the curving of the Seine River, you can’t really see the tower until you’re right on top of it. Then, of course, it’s too huge to fit into the viewfinder of your camera. The world cup of rugby is going on in Paris right now and there was a huge tv screen partway up the tower, showing highlights from the games. Across the river, some sponsors had set up a hospitality tent for rugby fans with souvenirs for sale, free beer, and loud rock music. Some rugby fans in New Zealand uniforms were outside playing with a rugby ball as I climbed several flights of stairs to a plaza high above them where I could take a picture of the tower across the river.
So there I stood, trying to figure out (unsuccessfully) how to change the contrast on my camera, when a rugby ball fell out of nowhere, hitting me in the hands and almost making me drop my camera. Somewhere far below me, some beer addled Kiwi was probably congratulating himself on the powerful kick that had propelled the ball to my perch.
As annoyed as I was, I couldn’t help but think that there might have been a message behind the blow - slow down, take your face away from the viewfinder and out of the guidebook and look around you. That’s the Eiffel Tower in front of you if you’ll just take the time to notice.
Yesterday, the streets were filled with commuters trying to get around despite the strike. They have these bike rental stands around the city where you can rent a bike, ride it somewhere else and leave it at the next stand. So many people were desperate to get to work or back home that the rental bikes were all gone. You could even see people on roller blades and adults riding scooters to work! Today, the strike must be slackening because the rental bikes are all back in their racks and I haven’t seen a scooter all day.
My feet still hurt and my wife’s legs ache, but that’s just causing us to walk slower, stay in our neighborhood, and pay attention to the little things. It just took a few blisters and a rugby ball falling out of the sky to knock some sense into me!

Tags: Paris transit strike

• cultural diversity , slowing down
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