Understanding Our Impact

To minimize the impact on Glacier Bay National Park, cruise ships and boats are required to power slowly through these glacial-silted waters.  Also, slowing down reduces the danger of hitting icebergs calved from the nearby glaciers.

Looking back, the wake of our ship makes gentle impressions that blend back the reflected scenes surrounding us.  It is a magical setting: an environment that is rooted in millennia of glacial activity, ever-changing, too majestic to absorb in one viewing.

By slowing down, the ship's noise lessens and we are left with the impact of silence and beauty.

Do you see your impact?
(Photo:  entering Glacier Bay National Park,
Larry Gardepie)

In comparison, when we were making our approach to Juneau a day earlier, we were met with jet skiers racing towards us and seaplanes buzzing over us as they escaped the water's grasp or landed gracefully ahead of us.

Both scenes are set in the grand waterways carved by glaciers and ringed by tall mountain ranges dotted with late summer glaciers still hanging from the peaks.  Creation beckons.

What impression do you make?
(Photo:  Jet Skiers, Juneau, Alaska,
Larry Gardepie)

Even in these settings I am thinking of dialogue and relationship:

• The importance of slowing down and paying attention;
• The ability to encounter and acknowledge who and what is seen; and,
• The impact or impression that our words, expressions, and actions have on others.

Our fast-paced world sometimes requires us to throttle back and pay attention.  But, are we willing?

What mark do you want to make in life?
(Photo, Ocean Sunset, Victoria, British Columbia,
Larry Gardepie)

Toward the end of our journey, we entered the waters surrounding Victoria, British Columbia.  A jet contrail crossed the evening sky, absorbing the brilliance of the sunset.  Though present to the unfolding beauty, my mind drifted back to my grandparent's backyard in the Midwest.  They enjoyed sitting outside when the hot summer day was cooling and watch the jets criss-cross their small plot of land... and each would say:  "I wonder where everyone is going?"

 

I am discovering that dialogue and relationship is about questions:

• Where am I -- or you -- going?
• What am I -- or you -- seeing along the way?
• How might we carve out time to experience the beauty and majesty of each other?
• What impact or impression blends back the reflections surrounding us?

I am just wondering:  Where are you going this week as you criss-cross my life?  Do you understand the impact you have on me?

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)