The bundle of conference papers LJ carried was becoming
crumpled as she scanned the eager faces of the crowd for the colleague she was
meant to meet. Hawaii was the third Pacific country she’d been to this week,
and the novelty of airports was wearing thin. As the humidity engulfed her, she
wondered again about the impact of global warming, and was grateful for a job
that enabled her to make a positive difference, however small.
‘Sorry!’ her colleague called, pushing through the crowd to
help LJ with her bags. ‘I was running on local time.’
‘Are we doing the set-up today?’ LJ asked, referring to the
conference preparations. She liked to make sure the meeting rooms were arranged
and the microphones and PowerPoint were working. Last minute glitches with
technology were all too frequent, and detracted from the message she was here to
present.
‘Sure,’ said her colleague who knew from experience that LJ
would not be happy until after the venue was sorted.
Looking
at the lectern and the circle of chairs LJ was reminded of the heated
discussions she had attended recently in Kiribati. Delegates from some of the
smaller Pacific Islands had been frustrated by the higher ocean levels and the repeated
inundation of their homes. They threatened a walk-out at the apparent lack of
commitment to change on the part of larger, more developed nations. It had
taken all her powers of persuasion to prevent this happening and to move the
discussion along. In the end an agreement of sorts had been reached, and she
now looked forward to months of shuttle diplomacy as the details were refined.
I need some fresh air,’ LJ announced, suddenly realising
that her jetlag was taking hold.
'Come on,' replied her colleague.
'Come on,' replied her colleague.
An hour later, standing on a mountain outside the city, LJ followed
her colleague as she shared some simple poses. ‘You will feel the power of the island inside you,’ her
colleague said, beginning to stretch.
To her surprise, as LJ emulated the
island’s rugged peaks by pointing her toes to the sky, a sense of calm and equilibrium enveloped her. When she curved her body like the waves rolling in
and settling on the sand below, she realised they had travelled across the expanse of the
Pacific. Just like me, she thought.
The next day at the conference, buoyed by the island’s
energy, LJ found that an unusual harmony had calmed the fractious delegates. She
drew in a deep breath, remembering the feeling she had experienced as she stretched
in the sun. From now on, she resolved, I will carry the strength of the
mountain and the persistence of the waves inside me.
As a Hawaiian song drifted across the conference room, LJ hoped there might one day be a solution to the rising tides that battered islands like Kiribati.
As a Hawaiian song drifted across the conference room, LJ hoped there might one day be a solution to the rising tides that battered islands like Kiribati.
