.. .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .... ... ... . ... ... .. ... .. . ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .... ... ... . ... ... .. ... .. . ... .. .. .... ... .. . ... .. .. .. .. .. .. ( click here ) to read a preface on past and future After banging his new secretary just after his separation from his wife and causing the secretary to freak out the next day when he doesn't fall in love with her, the wise office manager Joan Holloway assigns Don Draper an old battle axe named Miss Blankenship as his assistant. Though bitter, mostly incompetent and obnoxious, "she's just what I need now" Draper admits. Perhaps her best line is near the end of her run when Draper comes back from a meeting, tells Blankenship to call someone, and then walks away. "Are you going to the toilet?" Blankenship asks, in a loud, confused voice. One day, Don's lovely Sally decides she misses her Dad and makes a visit. Problem is, her mother didn't know and she had no money for the train. A kind but judgemental woman finds Sally hiding in a train vestibule, and brings her to Sterling Cooper (the name of the ad agency). Megan is tasked with interrupting a meeting and telling Don his is here. "She's what?" he says, walking out to the reception area. It is on this day that Miss Blankenship decides she has had enough, and proceeds to die perfectly upright in her office chair. Normally composed Peggy finds Blankenship and shreeks - which is inconvenient because Don's office and Blankenship's desk is right outside the glass walls of the conference room ... with in it ... who do not know that behind them is a dead secretary upright in her chair. Once again Megan is tasked with interrupting a meeting and telling Don ... his secretary is dead. "What now?" Don asks, understandably perplexed at the multiple interruptions. Megan folds her hands like an opera singer and quietly assures her boss this is important and he really must leave the meeting. She takes him to the body. If you were to notice such things, you would see that while the now 4 - count them 4 - females huddled around the dead body are in tears or in shock, it is Don who pauses and says "poor thing". Everyone else sees the problem. Don sees the person. You all really should watch Mad Men, if you watch anything at all. So, what to do with the dead secretary with the behind the glass wall within 10 feet of them? Why stash her in Don's office, right? Nope, can't - Sally's in there. "Why?", the tearful Joan rages. "She decided she wanted to visit," Megan responds quietly and a bit dismissively because, if you were to think about it, the problem really isn't Sally being in the office executive suite but THAT THERE IS A DEAD BODY IN THE OFFICE HALLWAY. Don does his dazzling Draper bit and gets rid of the . In the background the body is disposed of. Still, Sally remains. Don walks out of the conference room with Faye, a PhD'd advertising consultant and budding Draper romance. "What?!", Faye exclaims in the hall - shocked, how can this be, she was fine, I was just talking to her. Faye is a bit stunned. Don asks for a favor: go into his office, find his keys, and take Sally back to his apartment and keep her there until he can settle things down. More are coming to the mortuary - er, Sterling Cooper. Things must be dealt with. The body, the coroner, the police? Who knows. Faye literally stops in her tracks: "What? Me? Are you sure?" Her panic grows. Don stops and says, "Look, I'd have my secretary do it, BUT SHE'S DEAD." Sure, it's a funny line. But, as Draper always does, it quickly sums up the situation. There's a dead secretary here and my has run away to my office. I need help. Faye is nervous, unsure of herself. "Do we really have to have this discussion now?", Don asks. Eventually they go in, with Don introducing Fayeand telling Sally what is going to happen. This exchange is priceless. Don leaves. Faye stands upright in front of Sally - who is at Don's desk -- like a 6 year old girl at a man's desk - and Faye stands there and gives a presentation. "Hello, my name is Faye." "I know," Sally says like a Draper, "my Dad just told me that." So, in a crisis, Megan, the newest and youngest member in the office, is the one that keeps her head when surrounded by her female superiors dealing with the dead body. She is, quite simply and beautifully, "in the moment." Faye, is anywhere but, and needing to be told and retold, while standing right in front of the empty desk, that Don's secretary is dead and Don needs some help. Don's secretary has died right in front of an important . Don needs help. Megan understands this intuitively, dismisses irrelevant distractions, and is the leader in getting the resources necessary to move the body. Faye, when faced with the same yet less frightening crisis (she never actually sees the body), needs regular focusing, reassurance and retasking. Yet Faye is the PhD, the executive consultant; Megan, a Montreal girl with a bachelors degree, the lowly receptionist. ( click here ) to read a helping of helping { Part II } ( click here ) to read the strength of being easy { Part III } A wise man once said, "Open communication is the hallmark of a bad relationship." Faye lives life through a series of lens build around what should be. That is not necessarily bad. What is bad is that she can't let things be. She is constantly adjusting the pillows and the flowers and the magazines on the coffee table to reflect the image seen in the lenses. She is always looking forward, and to get to where she wants to be - to the way things should be - she is talking and adjusting and talking. Megan cuts through the clutter surrounding our lives and gets to and lives in the essense. When in horror at her life and frustration at her situation Don's Sally runs out screaming away from her own father who she loves dearly, and falls down to a breaking point, it is Megan that gets on her knees, pulls her into her arms, and provides comfort. She feels the utter desperation, and responds to it - while everyone else stands around in horror. She doesn't say, "Now what we should do here is never run down hallways because we can fall," or "Sometimes you have to do things you don't want". No, she says, "it will be alright." The desperation isn't real, you'll get through this. Faye has a night of sex in her man's own apartment and wakes up and says, "what you should do is ... ". Megan, in a much less stable position, in a much more vicarious situation, says, "Good night Mr. Draper." It's not only being in the moment, and seeing the moment. It's having peace in that moment: "I know who you are now." We are human beings. We are not human talkers. Yes, too much talk damages a relationship. And yes, we live in only one place: the present. So, yes, if there is much to talk about there is probably not enough being. (Excluding, of course, ejaculations of praise: "Damn I love that ass" "how do your hands do that?") But the view point, the conception that life is a process that should be dissected and talked about does dissect successfully. And it dissects the being. "Open communication is the hallmark of a bad relationship." If there is disquiet bringing forth talking, be. If there is still talking, be different. If there is still more talking, be somewhere else. We are not human talkers. We are human beings. Even with her PhD, Faye does not understand that. Even from Canada (or because?), Megan does. Be human, it's your only option. Past philosophizing does not guarantee future performance. Consult your financial advisor before ever investing in blog commodities. tgd

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... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. Well ... I am first aware of how huge this post turned out to be. I like writing, and it was fun to do, but the burden it must have placed on anyone who began reading. So I am hesitant to say more, but ... Being a bit (obviously) more like Mary, I have a slightly different take. I always took that passage to mean that it was "ok" for Mary to contemplate. Many would look upon her as wasting time, doing nothing, rather than contemplating. I did not take it that contemplation is more valuable. I suppose in my weaker moments I might like to take it that way, but I do not. Indeed, the presence of The Deity can compel action. To me, He was saying "It's ok to think about us also." And the contrast between Faye and Megan isn't strictly action vs. contemplation. It's more like Faye is never in the moment, her mind is always somewhere else, making little safe towers for herself. Megan got down on her knees to comfort a frantic broken down child. That is inspired, wonderful action. Faye was first introduced, in a personal way, as this consultant at Sterling Cooper who was married. With her wedding ring. Turns out she wears the ring to deflect unwanted advances from male suitors. She could've been the hot single babe wagging around Madison Avenue (and you can tell, she'd like to think of herself that way when she was with Draper). But she was too scared to try. So she set up a defense. She placed herself in a place she was not. Being active does not mean you are not in the moment. Being active does not mean you are Faye. Being active can mean someone who fiendishly prepares herself (doing all sorts of preparations) to be taken and taken and taken in the moment. That's being active. That's being responsive to the reality around you, rather than protecting yourself from it. That's being ... being. tgd