I got a last-minute invite to join a small circle of individuals who were going to meet the next morning at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery. It was good timing. At 9am I joined Rev. Heng Sure, Nipun, Audrey, Rev. Bonnie Rose from Ventura, Janessa Wilder (former CIA analyst and founder of the Euphrates Institute), Fran Faraz, (director of Peace Studies at Golden West College in SoCal), Sally Mahe, (one of the founders of United Religions Initiative, now with 900+ chapters in 105 countries!) and Jin Wei Bhikshu, the monk from Poland.



Things got rolling pretty quickly and picked up energy from there. Rev. Heng added some fuel in the form of tea. Sitting at one end of the table, he was carefully setting out 10 cups. He held up a silvery bag to get our attention and announced, “This is a very special tea! A rare dragonwell that has never been available to westerners until recently! The entire production has always been used up as bribes for officials. But because of a campaign in China to clean up corruption—if you’re at the right spot at the right time—you might be able to buy some. And we happened to be there just at the right time. By the way, this tea packs a punch. Is anyone allergic to caffeine?”
This was met with an immediate, “Bring-it-on!”
After a few rounds of this amazing tea, Rev. Heng Sure pulled out another bag, “This is oolong tea. Just wait til you see these tea leaves!”
Soon a clear glass teapot was full of steaming water. At first, the tea leaves didn’t look like much, but, “Just wait!” The leaves began to uncurl and expand in the hot water and, before long, they were full-sized, actual tea leaves slowly drifting to the bottom of the teapot. Real leaves. Most of us had never seen a real tea leaf.
The energy of that circle was pretty lively, and was it the tea? Hard to say. But when someone pointed out that our two hours were about up, instead of starting to say our good-byes, we all just moved into the sanctuary. Those who hadn’t already shared were put on the hot seat. Rev. Heng Sure brought out his guitar to lead us in some songs, and the party continued.
After another hour, it finally wound down for photos, hugs, and some of us, still on a roll, went to lunch to keep it going. Was it the caffeine, or just maybe was it ServiceSpace business as usual? ☺

Then a couple of days later, a lot of us showed up at KarmaKitchen. We saw each other again made some new, remarkable friends. That story is for another time, but I wanted to share one little piece..
After a convivial two and a half hours at KK, I ended up sitting next to Reza Faraz (Fran’s husband mentioned above). During the circle at BBM, he shared how his wife, Fran, was so passionate, that when she finally got home from her teaching and other projects, after a quick dinner, she went right back to work only getting to bed around midnight. “So I’m kind of pissed off!” he said, to nervous laughter. “It’s great that she’s so passionate, but I’m kind of getting left out.”
Was there a twinkle in his eye? Throughout the circle, Reza had added an amusing remark here and there, but otherwise had been quiet. But before the circle broke up I had a chance to talk a little with him. “What do you do?”
I learned he was an engineer for Caltrans. He had control of the purse strings for various projects, and made sure that what had been promised by contractors was actually being done. But beside that, he said, “I want to put a human face on the work I do, like I want to actually go out and meet the contractors, shake their hands and talk face to face. The human connection is always getting lost in this age of technology.”

I left with a very warm feeling about Reza, but we hadn’t really been able to talk much. And then today at KK, after two hours of really rich conversations, I moved to a table where Birju was just leaving. I took his seat and met some more inspiring people. And I was sitting next to Reza.
We soon picked up our conversation from BBM. He told me he has a little shelf in his cubicle at work where he keeps a bunch of little wind-up toys. When people come over to talk with him, they notice the toys and will stop to look at them. “Go ahead,” Reza says. “Pick one up. It’s okay.” So after a little coaxing, they pick up a toy. “Wind it up,” he says. Maybe a little uneasy, they wind up the toy. “Go ahead, set it down.” And the little toy scoots across the desk. They laugh.
Reza explained that he wants to move people out of their heads and get them into feeling. “We’re always just using this mental part of ourselves to figure things out. We’ve been trained to do this in everything, especially engineers. But it’s what most of us do.”
So the toys are a device that helps Reza himself, and helps open new avenues with others who come to his desk. Something natural happens that goes beyond business as usual.
He added, “I like to get out and look at plants and trees, too. There’s a tree I know and if you run your fingers over a piece of its bark, just feeling it, it’s really an interesting experience. I take pieces and gather small rocks to glue to the piece of bark. Then I’ll get an air-plant (an epiphyte) and attach it.”
He got out his iPhone and showed me some photos of these little creations. “I like to have some of these on my desk, too, and anytime someone expresses interest, I just give one to them.”
Reza smiled.
It was a story of creativity, of how creativity is always a possibility if one asks oneself how a routine might permit some options. And it's a story of things that might seem small - and how such things can make a difference. Truth is, they’re not really so small.