A Corner, Turned...

My sojourn in Australia lasted for 220 days.

As of today, I have been back in the US for nearly that long; 214 days.

Since returning, I’ve lived with felines and canines, slept on sofas, cushions, blow-up mattresses and futons, in guest beds and master bedrooms and very nearly on the subway. 

I’ve experienced my life refined to the most important of essentials; food and shelter. I’m fortunate to not have had to resort to actual homeless shelters, due to what has become a prolific, successive materialization of practical support from many unexpected quarters.

People from my life past -- people whom I had liked though truly hardly knew -- have reached out to me with offers of shelter and leads for jobs and have given me nurturing support that I had not expected, at all. They have kept their eye on me to be sure I didn’t lose heart and give up. These wonderful individuals have reached out with heartfelt words of encouragement during a very dark time for me...telling me that they have drawn inspiration and support from my own life and work in the past and articulated a value I might have on this planet that I have not always perceived. 

These words and actions have helped me to carry myself through this.

Other friends, longtime friends, have simply and silently disappeared...or not appeared, at all. To me, it is as though these former confidantes fear I might infect them with my own perceived Failure...or something. Truly, I have no idea why some of those with whom I’d been very close before leaving for Australia have simply stayed away since my return. Beyond being disconcerting, the absence of some of those whom I’d trusted so implicitly as friends at a time when friends were most needed seriously undermined my efforts to ground myself and maintain some sort of steadiness as I rebuilt.

On the one hand, this has forced me to rely only on myself; accepting anything positive that has come my way as Gift. 

On the other, though; the true lesson has been in candor, in actually giving voice to what is needed and asking for specific help so that what is needed is known...and in realizing that No Man Is An Island, we’re here together to help one another.

There is no room in my wardrobe for the mantle of victimhood.

One friend has offered that my pathway through these past months (or years) has been shaman-esque in the quality of exploration and the sometimes seemingly relentless encounters with difficulty and obstacle as I have explored the rebuilding of a life.

I can say that the experience at The Apple Store has been revelatory to me in myriad ways. Talk about “parachuting” into an alien situation and making it work: working in retail was equally as foreign to me as was traveling 12,000 miles to a country of cowboys… 

I succeeded at Apple. Having paid no attention to the metrics and numbers of my work, and only doing what comes naturally; I was a tad surprised to learn, just this week, that out of the 300+ employees at Apple SoHo, I have been in the top 5% for the quarter! Who knew?!

When the manager who shared this little tidbit of data with me saw my surprise, he said, “...well, Kile, you talk to a LOT of people…!” 

I do not believe that “everything happens for a reason.” I do believe that we can find reason, lesson, enlightenment and value in nearly everything that does happen. Life is so much chance and circumstance; it is up to us to embrace what comes and weave the lessons into our lives...possibly even to help others.

I made a huge error in judgement in trusting the Australian Handshake that took me to Melbourne. I shelved an entire life and took a leap of trust and faith....

Would I do it again? Probably not. Do I regret what I did? I don’t.

Though it was an extremely dark time, it was interwoven and enhanced -- graced --  by encounters with some wonderful people with whom I remain in touch to this day and may even see - or work with - again. The wonderful, caring community at The Vitality Clinic; Sam, Kath & Emily were an oasis of succor and revitalization and remain indelible in my heart. Kristin and Ateesha at Ministry of Dance; poised professionalism, personified...and beautiful, t’boot. Magdy, sharing his family and his church with me. Judi, the best representative New Zealand might boast. The wacky - though, not wacko - Pollock family...and, of course, the divine Christopher Vine; who opened his heart and home and shared his beautiful family. These people are Australia for me.

Since returning, my life has continued its shakedown. While many old friends have remained away, so many more have shown themselves to care and to reach out and simply stay in touch...sharing what made our shared lives and experiences so special and what remains to give resonance to re-experiencing one another again, now.

The fresh aliveness I have found among the young people at Apple has been regenerative, revelatory, and fantastically fruitful. These kids (and they are kids, what can I tellya?) are smart, motivated, aspirational and inspirational. Disparate, they gather from cities and suburbs of Florida to California, from Brooklyn to Biloxi, Harlem to Hawaii; universally seeking to make something of themselves, to realize a set of dreams, goals, visions of their individual futures. Afraid of failure when they haven’t achieved a set of ambitions by the time the 25th year is reached; their candid fears and protected hopes make them sheer pleasure to be around.

Becoming a part of that micro-community has been one of the best things I’ve done; my own evolution from That New (old) Guy to whatever stature I seem now to enjoy has been an accomplishment of which I’m proud. As word has begun to creep out that I am leaving Apple, the startled dismay that these young men and women have expressed has been something I did not expect and something I do not take lightly.

Widened eyes well with tears as a young man or woman says, “You’re leaving?!”  This tells me that I have made a difference, that I do make a difference...still, yet, and ongoingly. I cherish that quality and have been greatly humbled at the experience that Apple has offered and has clarified for me.

When I broke the news to the manager and told him that I was leaving, without hesitation he told me that the door will always be open for me...as long as he has a job at Apple, I will be welcome there. In only four months, that is not something taken lightly; and I am honored by that.

Why am I leaving Apple?

Well, as a matter of fact, this week, I received an offer from Amnesty International for the position of Executive Producer of All Things 50th in the US for that organization’s 50th Anniversary Year...that being next year; 2011. 

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, Kile Ozier has a job. 

Not just a job, but a position with a scope that I believe is perfect for me at this prestigious, iconic global agency with the readily embraceable Mission of Human Rights for All.

I start, Monday.