[Being Chris]

For those of you who get tired of reading articles that are constantly positive and want to hear what is not so easy and perfect (so as to flesh out the mechanics behind our happy promotions), I would like to write an article about what has been hard about our trip.

As a trio of three idealistic realists (or realistic idealists – it depends on the time and place), we certainly butt heads over certain things from time to time. Surprisingly, we have been very communal when it comes to the big decisions, such as the location of our next service destination or what to do for recreation. However, we have a hard time not sweating the small stuff.

We are three people incorporated as one individual (according to the government and other incorporated entities). Whenever we need to make a decision as a group, each one of us innately wants to make sure that the outcome of the decision satisfies the other two. This tends to become a back-and-forth, round-and-round, constantly-offering-alternatives form of discussion/debate.

For example, the decision of what to do for dinner follows this type of formula:

Eat at a small diner or make food at our campsite?
Which one is cheaper?
Do we have the necessities to cook out?
Can we find a place nearby that offers food for cheap?
Should we save the food we have for when we really need it?
What can we make out of what we have in our cart?
Won’t the firewood be wet?
Why don’t you want to get something at a restaurant?
Aren’t you going to offer an opinion?
Isn’t it important to go through all of the options?
Fine, let’s just make some food!

Not all decisions follow this process, of course, but it has happened constantly enough for it to be a minor headache.

No one wants to make the final decision about anything because, if there is a problem with that decision, he or she does not want to be blamed for a false move. We all want this trip to be the experience of a lifetime (which, no doubt, it has been), and none of us wants to make a mistake. It is the nature of the beast, I suppose, when a really close group of people spends a lot of time together working on a project that is important to each person individually (Pink Floyd? The Beatles? the Animaniacs?).

Being And Doing has been moving forward very smoothly and we have had great fortune with the groups we have worked with and the people we have met. Chris, Andrew, and Katie, however, have been thrown into a fairly intense learning experience about how to look after the needs of each other while also asserting our own, individual opinions.

As far as I am concerned, there are seven unique individuals on this trip.

1. Chris
2. Andrew
3. Katie
4. (Chris-Katie)
5. (Katie-Andrew)
6. (Andrew-Chris)
7. (Chris-Andrew-Katie)

For example, if Andrew makes an unpopular choice, he has (Chris-Katie) on his back about it [sorry to make you the example, buddy, but your hypothetical self gave me the go-ahead]. This is not an intentional process; it’s just the way things are. We not only have to relate to each other, we have to relate to the synthesis of the other two, which can be subconsciously daunting.

Somehow or other, all seven of these individual entities needs to be satisfied in order for us to come out of this trip without any battle scars. It is a fine line that we are walking, but so far our balancing act has been successful. The greatest teachers are those that are constantly learning, and BAD, Inc. is trying to teach the world that the needs of the individual parallel the needs of the community by working it out on the small scale. “We are all in this together” goes for both BAD and our global community.

So, there you have it – some of the dirt in the garden. As we all know, nothing is perfect, but the first step to making sure that we all work together smoothly is to acknowledge our problems. I look forward to writing about something that makes me smile in my next post (insert emoticon).

Andrew and Katie – I love you both. Let’s get dinner!

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