Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
I am reading an incredible book entitled, “The Soul of Money” by Lynne Twist. It is absolutely amazing and I am now in the process of re-examining my assets, my income and my allocations. Am I spending my money in alignment with my heart?
I discovered that the root of the word wealthy comes from “well-being”. Our assets, along with our money, include all of the incredible gifts we hold in our hearts that we can share with others as well as all that we receive from the people in our lives that are gifting us their love and talents.
When re-examining my treasure chest, I find it full to brimming over with assets. It is an amazing exercise to reflect on all of our true assets, all of our gifts and talents, our families, our friends, our colleagues, our employers, and all of those people in our lives that are making a difference to us each and every day. It is a wonderful way to experience our true wealth.
For many of us, our magical gifts and talents are like weeds, “plants whose virtues have not yet been discovered”. Isn’t it time we all really looked into our hearts and fully examined all of the gifts and talents that we hold inside? We have so much to offer in our own circle of friends and family as well as in the larger communities and the world. Our treasure chests are full to overflowing and just waiting for us to know and acknowledge this reality. I am humbled and grateful for all that I have. I am truly living in “Sufficiency”.
What does it really mean to pull together in a “Harambee Movement”? It is no easy task for us to all pull together. When I look at our current landscape, we all seem to be more divided than ever. We tend to take positions on one side or the other and get locked in. Sometimes it is so difficult to experience another point of view, we reduce the situation to just making judgments of each other.
When we take a position on something, we automatically elicit the opposing position. It just seems to happen that way. However, when we take a stand for something, from our hearts, their is no place for an opposing position. For example, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took the stand that, “All people should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”, who could oppose this stand?
Maybe what’s missing today is that we are not taking a stand for something. What if, for example, we took a stand for all people in our country to have access to quality health care? This would not mean we take a stand for someone’s specific solution for health care, but rather, we take a stand for the vision of everyone having access to quality health care in our country.
Then we fully examine what is missing that is preventing this vision from being realized. We could follow with a thorough needs assessment, maybe in specific communities since each community has their own needs. The true answers are out there waiting for us to come together, supporting each other and keeping our stand, our vision, always in front of us guiding our actions.
There is no real “quick fix” for anything as important as our own personal health care. This will be a long journey in order to get it right and we will definitely have to think out of the box, but we can pull together and do this. These are the actions of a “Harambee Movement”.
I just attended a conference filled with early childhood educators. With the current lack of available funding, the teachers still came on their own initiative to learn more effective ways of teaching the young children in their care. They attended workshops that taught everything from early academic readiness skills, language and social/emotional development skills, effective classroom strategies, to leadership skills.
Even in the uncertain economic times we are facing, our teachers are still out there learning new ways to be better teachers for their children. I am always amazed at their enthusiasm and love for working with our young children. When I think of the challenges of working with two to six year old children on a daily basis, I become tired even thinking about it.
What would we do without these wonderful dedicated teachers? I know that we all have our unique gifts and talents but I am in awe of the patience and love that our teachers have for our children all day, every day of the week. It doesn’t seem to matter that we cannot fund their classrooms as we would like, they seem to seek out ways of teaching our children anyway.
Teachers are some of the most creative individuals in our society. Go into any classroom and you will find colorful teaching tools that are made from recycled cardboard rolls, straws, plastic tubing and pipes, to anything you can imagine. The heart of a teacher shines through no matter what the circumstances and will find a way to pass the knowledge onto our children.
The resilience of teachers to persevere in tough times is amazing and I am so grateful to know that our children are being well cared for and taught with such high integrity and compassion. Thank you teachers everywhere, I sincerely appreciate all that you do.
