There have been times in my life when I was told that what I was doing to help the world was a drop in the bucket. I would reply with something like, "enough drops will fill the bucket." And there were times when I got down and I couldn't see the fruits of my labor. I've even doubted that all the work, trials, pushing was worth it. So like Heidi in the play, "I'm just not happy, I haven't been happy in some time."
I have goals. I have goals for my life, career, relationships, and I also have goals for the world. There are changes that I would love to see occur and to achieve these goals I work from within my classes at our little university to encourage change in the world. I teach understanding, tolerance, the celebration of diversity, and may other concepts that probably scare the crap out of college that I once taught at. I teach the whole person, not just the artist. And I see change. I see change in my students. I see most of them going into the world with the goal of making it a little bit better. I believe in them too. They are more than a drop in a bucket.
However this wouldn't be my blog if I didn't mention Kate. I believe strongly in her. She's smart, funny, energetic, but most of all she's compassionate. Kate is much more compassionate than I am. If anything I have given to this world will make it a better more loving place Kate will. Kate loves big.
A few weeks ago Kate and I went to a friend's birthday party at the local skating rink. Kate was having an allergy attack that morning but regardless of how she felt she begged to go to the party so we went. She got there and immediately felt better because she saw her friend, the birthday girl, and off they went to the rink. At the rink there was a little girl and her Mom who I didn't know. The little girl was a friend of the birthday girl and had been invited to the party too. She sat there on a bench next to the rink with her Mom and she sobbed. She was a little shy and according to her Mom had had a difficult morning.
Kate walked up to the sobbing little girl and put her arms around her. She told her that it would be okay. She went on to tell the little girl that she would skate with her. And within a minute Kate had the little girl by the hand and they were out on the ice. Neither of the two of them had ever skated before but they both did very well. They depended on one another; if one fell the other waited and helped. They laughed and had a lovely time.
When it got time for cake Kate sat by the birthday girl but when her special friend came in Kate offered half of her chair to the little girl. They sat together in the same chair and ate cake to celebrate.
Most of us wouldn't stop to ask someone crying if they were okay much less put an arm around them. Most of us wouldn't spend time at a party with someone we didn't know. Most of us wouldn't offer half our chair to someone who had no place to sit. But wouldn't the world be a little better if we did?
My favorite line from THE HEIDI CHRONICLES is from Act II, scene 4:
I don't blame any of the us (for how I'm feeling). We're all concerned, intelligent, good women. It's just that I feel stranded. And I thought the whole point was that we wouldn't feel stranded. I thought the point was we were all in this together.
So can we stop judging, hating, overlooking one another for a minute and just love each other because aren't we all in this together?
1 comment:
I look forward to the day when I can hug you both for a very long time. <3
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