Lavalanche

It's happened three times in as many days. Maybe I hang around with the wrong people, but everywhere I turn I get the same thing.

In the middle of a meeting I was chairing, an attendee waited until the middle of the meeting to surprise me with an agenda item. It wouldn't have been so bad, but this was a contentious topic and the person knew it. Not only did the person just raise the topic out of the blue but also flooded the room with anger and unbridled opinions.

Yesterday I was at a rehearsal and the person next to me started sharing everything she could think of about why USA politics was in such a mess and perhaps she should move to Canada.

Today a colleague stopped by, not once, not twice, but three different times to keep adding more ammunition about why I needed to take action on something.

As I returned to what I was working on at the time, it occurred to me that there's a common denominator with the events of these three days: It seems like an avalanche of comments is coming my way and nothing is constructive, but is negative and complaint-filled. Isn't that what happens when a volcano erupts? There is pressure building below the surface and powerful forces force the material to ooze through the cracks or spew out of the volcano top. This lava is smothering. Suffocating. And hot. How hot? Since it takes a lot to melt rock, the orange lava can become white-hot quickly. Lava can flow great distances even though it generally moves slowly.

The similarities are evident. Complaints can be smothering and suffocating. Complaints can flow great distances. Complaints arise from a release of pressure deep within. This "lavalanche" of gloom wouldn’t be so bad if channeled into a constructive pathway, but where's that place on any relationship map?

[Sr. Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University, Cincinnati Ohio.]