“human beings must involve themselves in the anguish of other human beings. this, i submit to you, is not a political thesis at all. it is simply an expression of what i would hope might be ultimately a simple humanity for humanity’s sake.” ~ rod serling
Pete the Cat is in his bag and he feels safe in there.
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this post is dedicated to all of the farm workers out there
may they and their families be safe from harm
during this very challenging time
we see you and appreciate you
thank you for the hard work you do every day to bring food to all of us.
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‘the people who give you their food give you their heart.’
-cesar chavez
*Cesario Estrada Chavez 1927-1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to become the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union.
“Soul” by Ugo Rondinone, 2013
“Stick-to-itiveness” is now included in the dictionary. It’s about perseverance — whether we’re born with it or learn it. It’s about continuing to show up and doing what matters, even when you don’t feel like it, and especially when the world is yelling that you don’t matter, that you’re crazy, that who you think you are and what you have to say doesn’t matter. I’ve been thinking a lot about what matters and why I care so much when someone feels what I think doesn’t matter. Why do we keep having to learn, again and again, that we get to choose what we care about? Today, as I listened to Erin Brockovich tell her story, I was reminded that thinking differently is beautiful, and whatever we think, feel, and care about is valid and matters. It is our responsibility to amplify what we care about. There is no special reward for conformity of thought or action, but there is an internal reward for expressing the uniqueness of who we are.
Ugo Rondinone made a series of stone figures in a variety of sizes for his exhibition Soul in 2013. Each one is different, but they have a visual uniformity, as if they’re all from the same humanity. When you look closely, though, their heads sit slightly differently on their bodies, their legs are longer or shorter, their torsos are thin or thick. They are us. And we are them.
-Heidi Zuckerman, CEO and director of the Orange County Museum of Art and author of Why Art Matters: The Bearable Lightness of Being.
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Installation view, Ugo Rondinone, soul, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Maag Areal, Zurich, 2013. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Stefan Altenburger
This drawing is by Anja Rozen, a 13-year-old primary school student in Slovenia.
She was chosen from 600,000 children around the world
to create a piece of art to show what peace looks like.
She is the winner of the international Plakat Miru competition.
“My drawing represents the land that binds us and unites us.”
“Humans are woven together.
If someone gives up, others fall.
We are all connected to our planet and to each other,
but unfortunately we are little aware of it.
We are woven together.
Other people weave alongside me my own story; and I weave theirs,”
said the young designer.
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‘the cause of freedom and the cause of peace are bound together.’
-Leon Blum, three-time Prime Minister of France
our class of 3’s-4’s
met with their learning partners
a 4th grade class
and together
they read a book
learned about what Dr. King
stood for and fought for
in his own peaceful way
talked about
what love, fairness, equality
meant to them
then created
a lovely art piece together
each to become a square
in a large paper quilt
created by the whole school
a beautiful collaboration.
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“make a career of humanity.
commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights.
you will make a better person of yourself,
a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – March for Integrated Schools, April 18, 1959.
after seeing the trailer for this film
i really thought it was going to be a comedy
it did have its funny moments and lines
as the movie played out
it was so much more
the trio of lead actors were brilliant
the characters
interacted
revealed themselves
learned about each other
personal stories emerged
in ways unexpected, tragic, and beautiful
finding something in each other
perhaps they didn’t even know they needed
but oh, did they ever
because as their understanding
of their humanity
with all of its flaws and challenges
came to the forefront
they chose grace
each was made the better for it
and forever changed.
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“the moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad
but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.”
-alain de botton
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image credit: miramax films, focus features
In May of 2013, celebrated author and MacArthur ‘genius’ George Saunders took the podium at Syracuse University and delivered a masterpiece of bequeathable wisdom, the commencement address. A year later it was adapted in “Congratulations, by the way: Some Thoughts on Kindness”, designed and hand lettered by Chelsea Cardinal.
With his gentle wisdom and disarming warmth, Saunders manages to dissolve some of our most deeply engrained culturally conditioned cynicism into a soft and expansive awareness of the greatest gift one human being can give another — those sacred exchanges that take place in a moment of time, often mundane and fleeting, but echo across a lifetime with inextinguishable luminosity.
I’d say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder.
In seventh grade, this new kid joined our class. In the interest of confidentiality, her name will be “ELLEN.” ELLEN was small, shy. She wore these blue cat’s-eye glasses that, at the time, only old ladies wore. When nervous, which was pretty much always, she had a habit of taking a strand of hair into her mouth and chewing on it.
So she came to our school and our neighborhood, and was mostly ignored, occasionally teased (“Your hair taste good?” — that sort of thing). I could see this hurt her. I still remember the way she’d look after such an insult: eyes cast down, a little gut-kicked, as if, having just been reminded of her place in things, she was trying, as much as possible, to disappear. After awhile she’d drift away, hair-strand still in her mouth. At home, I imagined, after school, her mother would say, you know: “How was your day, sweetie?” and she’d say, “Oh, fine.” And her mother would say, “Making any friends?” and she’d go, “Sure, lots.”
Sometimes I’d see her hanging around alone in her front yard, as if afraid to leave it.
And then — they moved. That was it. No tragedy, no big final hazing.
One day she was there, next day she wasn’t.
End of story.
Now, why do I regret that? Why, forty-two years later, am I still thinking about it? Relative to most of the other kids, I was actually pretty nice to her. I never said an unkind word to her. In fact, I sometimes even (mildly) defended her.
But still. It bothers me.
So here’s something I know to be true, although it’s a little corny, and I don’t quite know what to do with it:
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.
Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded … sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.
Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth?
Those who were kindest to you, I bet.
But kindness, it turns out, is hard — it starts out all rainbows and puppy dogs, and expands to include . . . well, everything.
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credits: Maria Popova, Chelsea Cardinal, George Saunders
what a funny, sweet, sad, moving book –
a brilliant story of the enduring power
of human connection, forgiveness, and hope.
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“we have all of this in common, yet most of us remain strangers, we never know what we do to each other, how your life is affected by mine. perhaps we hurried past each other in a crowd today, and neither of us noticed, and the fibers of your coat brushed against mine for a single moment and then we were gone. i don’t know who you are. but when you get home this evening, when this day is over and the night takes us, allow yourself a deep breath. because we made it through this day as well. there’ll be another one along tomorrow.”
-fredrik backman (anxious people)
good planets are hard to find
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photo credit: earthtalk
The image of the child musician crying was classified as one of the most emotional photographs of modern history. This photo was taken of a 12-year-old Brazilian boy (Diego Frazzo Turkato), playing the violin at the funeral of his teacher who rescued him from the environment of poverty and crime in which he lived.
In this image, humanity speaks with the strongest voice in the world:
“Cultivate love and kindness in a child to sow the seeds of compassion. And only then you will build a great civilization, a great nation “. – dalai lama
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credits: Photographer: Marcos Tristao
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“what wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?”
-jean-jacque rousseau
I didn't have my glasses on.... 