I love this. The poem, the poet, the reminder of the essay about the airport, and your careful weaving of them to help us focus our efforts towards kindness. Thank you.
I know it well, and love it. Thank you for giving me another chance to read it fresh. She is one of my absolute favorites ... and I am not surprised she is one of yours as well.
Shukran jazilan...We all needed that kindness reminder....(and some nice Ma'amoul ...Reminds me that I have not made it in a long while...That is something to share at one of our nourishing get togethers)...Clare
I love this. The poem, the poet, the reminder of the essay about the airport, and your careful weaving of them to help us focus our efforts towards kindness. Thank you.
Thank you, Kharma! She has another poem about kindness -- very thought-provoking, I think. Perhaps you know it:
Kindness, by Naomi Shahib Nye
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out of the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
Catches the thread of all sorrows
And you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
Okay, so Substack messed up the line spacing of that poem somehow, even though I was careful to type it in correctly. Go figure.
I know it well, and love it. Thank you for giving me another chance to read it fresh. She is one of my absolute favorites ... and I am not surprised she is one of yours as well.
Sylvie,
You had me at the photo of the teapot. 😉M~
I thought you might like that!
This post touched me deeply. I choose kindness.💕Irene
You embody kindness! A good model for the rest of us to follow!
I can taste that cookie as well, and it is delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Me, too! Even though I don't believe I have ever actually had one!
Shukran jazilan...We all needed that kindness reminder....(and some nice Ma'amoul ...Reminds me that I have not made it in a long while...That is something to share at one of our nourishing get togethers)...Clare
I love that idea, Clare!