why kindness matters

In the third grade, I once had a substitute teacher who skipped the conventional classroom lesson and gave us the opportunity to pose anonymous questions to her about anything and everything under the sun. The question I wrote on my strip of paper was: “why do bad things happen in the world?” At eight years old, I watched the news (maybe unbeknownst to my parents) and read enough to know that the world was imperfectly wild, and sometimes, disturbingly scary. I understood that there were bad people out there (and my parents cautioned me about this), but I didn’t really understand why. Apparently, my substitute teacher didn’t know either. When she unfolded my question and read it aloud, she sounded somewhat annoyed and amused, as if she couldn’t be bothered with such a silly question. I genuinely wanted to hear what she had to say. I thought she might impart some big-person wisdom, some insights that our parents were afraid to share, or even real-world advice on how to be a good person. But in a dismissive tone, she answered, “Because the world isn’t perfect and God gave us good people and bad people.” I no longer liked this game of hers. I was disappointed (thanks, Teacher, for humoring a kid). And then I had to sit through a dozen questions about the existence of unicorns, when we’d have recess, and why our teacher was really absent.

Twenty-something years later, I think I should be old enough to answer my question for myself, but in all honesty, I don’t have the answer. And yet, I imagine if I had to answer this question for an eight-year-old student, I would say that bad things happen in the world so we can better recognize the good, try to correct the bad, and propagate kindness instead of hatred. I suppose that’s the answer I would offer for any age, but would I offer that in any circumstance? In the wake of recent tragedies, this question is relevant because so many people are looking for answers. And maybe right now, the answer lies in how we, as a larger community, respond. As one of the victims of the recent Aurora shooting said, “The prayers of strangers do matter.” It matters that we care about our community, that we remember this day, and that we continue to propagate kindness. The Aurora tragedy is not a local tragedy – it is a national tragedy and a human tragedy in every sense of the word. It’s not enough to memorialize the fallen or sentence the guilty, we have to do better. We have to respond through goodness and shrug off indifference. We have to keep asking that question of ourselves and those around us and choose to stand on the side of good. We need to have these difficult conversations with our children, our students and our families. We have to believe that a kind thought matters. A good intention matters. And in this imperfect world that we live in, a prayer for a stranger matters.

On being 20

The things I thought about when I was thinking outside of the classroom...looking back, I'd have to say I was one part idealist, one part cheese ball.

----

The purpose of life is not found in a static existence. One must always challenge oneself, voice one's opinions, seek daily inspiration and simply evolve. Humanity is not lost nor forsaken; it is merely in need of a reawakening.

Love starts at the eyes, is refined at the lips and progresses down the body. However, lust travels upward and may never reach the depth of the eyes or the lips.

Women are truly amazing creatures. Not only are we constantly reinventing ourselves and striving for higher self-awareness, but we also love to help other women improve themselves. No matter how old we get, we never get tired of giving each other makeovers.

To understand the world, place yourself outside of it, but to cherish this world, never cease to think about your place in it.

The mind echoes everything the heart wishes it could say.

----

The Course of Love

You ask why I couldn’t love you—
How I never let you in
Because my heart was impenetrable.
You ask why I let you go—
Why I denied your right to love me
Because I was terrified by Love.
I watched you leave me in silence
Because I couldn’t ask you to stay.
Your love gave me strength
But my loving you made me weak.
You loved me wholly and freely, I know.
But I loved you as one loves a dream.
I lived in it knowing it was fleeting
And awoke feeling as empty as I did complete.
It was never that I couldn’t love you.
I did love you.
I have always loved you.
My sin was in loving too much—
In holding onto a dream so tightly
That it faded into a perfect memory.
I love you as I miss you—deeply.

4/12/01

the human condition

We move about our lives in a sea of fellow wanderers. We float through the day in nameless crowds. At times, we hide away in our own thoughts or take refuge in our daydreams. If we stopped for a moment to think outside of ourselves, we might catch a glimpse of the other world happening around us. We might sense that the person sitting next to us at lunch is nervous because he is undergoing a life-changing experience, that the person we’re passing on the street is smiling because joy is abounding in his soul, or that the person waiting in line behind us is overburdened by a grief that is settling in his heart. Perhaps we can never truly know these things, but we have an immense capacity for sympathy, empathy, compassion and humanity. Kindness knows no currency, but its value is immeasurable. There is no shame in feeling or connecting. There is only embracing the human condition and crossing the boundary of indifference.

June 3, 2011

Untitled

How does one measure the tide of love?
Days too long, seconds too brief.
When we are entangled as one,
The essence of time is stolen.
We float between this world and the next
Ever forward, ever changing.
When I can be the one you dream of,
I remember that time yields to love, to us.

May 2009

To Love and Be Loved

I sometimes wonder about love. According to Plato, every person is in search of his missing half - the physical and spiritual half that complements and completes each of us. In popular culture, we know this half as "the one," often attributed to the workings of destiny and the product of fate. But it's very hard to believe that in our lifetime, with the many people we have come across and those we have yet to meet, there is only one person who was meant for each and every one of us. I believe that we each have numerous opportunities to love and be loved in the romantic context. I like to think that love is governed by free will and we are all able to impart our own magic. It is true that sometimes we can't control how and when we fall in love because the heart can speak louder than logic. I think the real beauty and magnificence of love lies within each of us - in our power to choose and make the experience of love our own.

2001

Nostalgia

The evening air is so mild and sweet
And yet it passes not as a breeze,
But as a strong current
That carries melancholic memories.
Heavy with introspection and
Roaming with countless smiles,
This wind sweeps by
But it lingers like spilled perfume
And ebbs like a sea of tears,
The zephyr wishes to continue on it way
But I trap it in my room
And pull it around me like a blanket.
It tastes bittersweet and refreshing.
It rises with a cooling warmth.
Its aroma does not release me.
The air is invigorating and at the same time,
It chokes me with gentle hands.

May 1999