Can you see what’s beautiful?
My thoughts today are inspired by author Matt de la Pena. Matt wrote a letter to students today who are at home with family just like him. Matt’s words were for our students but they resonated with me.
Matt shared a quote from his book, Last Stop on Market Street, “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt, you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.”
Sometimes in the darkest, most chaotic times in life is when we see true beauty. Our feeds are flooded with the latest stats, the lack of…, the climbing rate of …, the falling of the numbers; however, in its midst I’m witnessing so much beauty. Not aesthetic beauty, the beauty of kindness, connection (virtually), togetherness (from a safe distance of 6 feet 😊), collaboration (of thousands), generosity (from thousands) and the list could on.
A few of the beautiful things I’ve witnessed from the comfort of my home these past few days…
- Moms, Dads and their kids riding bikes around the neighborhood, taking walks…
- Mommy & Daddy School
- Virtual support and offers of assistance to those we ♥️
- LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems! https://twitter.com/the_pigeon/status/1239959957895700485?s=21
- Draw Every Day with JJK! https://twitter.com/studiojjk/status/1239882029388488704?s=21
- Artists we ♥️ live-streaming music for us…well, maybe artists I ♥️.
- Virtual story time with authors we ♥️
- Virtual writing lessons with writers we ♥️
- Colleagues we ♥️ (& some we don’t even know…yet) sharing everything they can to help teachers, coaches, administrators navigate the changing landscape of school during this time.
- Random acts of kindness
The list could go on and on…
As we are surrounded by the “dirt” of these unprecedented days, I hope you stop to notice and witness the beauty that is all around us.
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness”.
– Desmond Tutu
I love this reminder to see all the beautiful the world has to offer! Especially during a dark think like this. Thank you (: