And some find their strength within the broken pieces. "
I was invited to a wonderful concert last night with friends at the Winspear Center. The band was one I didn't recognize, a group from South Africa by the name of Johnny Clegg. They were a group that was very passionate about abolishing apartheid. And they were amazing.
Johnny mentioned that one of the most important things that happened to him as a youth was the visit of Ted Kennedy to South Africa. No one wanted him to come, but he came anyway to see what was happening for himself. He then spoke at a number of campuses across South Africa. Johnny was in the audience at one of those talks and Ted Kennedy told them that this was not only their problem. That racism was a global issue, and that South Africa was simply one more place struggling against it. Johnny explained that until then, the youth of South Africa felt they were in a bubble. That no one understood what they were fighting against. Ted Kennedy made them feel part of something much bigger.
Ted Kennedy of course had many problems in his life when he returned to the States including the scandal of Chapaquidick ( I probably totally misspelled that) and alcoholism just to name a few. He found love late in life and went on to regain face, and legislate a couple of hundred laws during his life of public service. He championed many causes and made a real difference in the world through his contributions. The above quote was said about him at his funeral.
I have heard it said that Nelson Mandela was a reckless and arrogant man before spending most of his life in prison. Prison was the making of a hero. A wise man. A leader.
I sat in the audience last night and thought about how the forces of our lives shape each and every one of us. That we can no more hope to escape this life unscathed than we could hope to escape being born. Every aspect of what we face in life, is like the fire that tempers the steel of our character. Instead of raging against the things that test us the most, we should be grateful, for it is those things that often forge the very traits that give us the strength to stand up for what we believe in. That make us unafraid of what others will think of us. When you have faced the bottom and lived, what more have you to lose?
I admire people who have faced that kind of adversity and moved through it to come out the other side a better person. I truly believe I have more to learn from someone who has fallen a few times and taken a few wrong turns, than from someone who has done it all "right". I want to teach my own sons, it is not when you fall and make a mistake that you fail. It is when you don't get right back up again. There is no shame in making a mistake, only in not correcting it once you realize you have made it. Sometimes kids today are so afraid to make a mistake that they get frozen. Stuck, paralyzed to make a wrong turn. What I have learned in my life is that things come to you when you are in motion. And sometimes you think you have taken the wrong way, when in fact what you ran into, might end up being the making of you.
Food for thought...
In love and light,
Kathryn
I was invited to a wonderful concert last night with friends at the Winspear Center. The band was one I didn't recognize, a group from South Africa by the name of Johnny Clegg. They were a group that was very passionate about abolishing apartheid. And they were amazing.
Johnny mentioned that one of the most important things that happened to him as a youth was the visit of Ted Kennedy to South Africa. No one wanted him to come, but he came anyway to see what was happening for himself. He then spoke at a number of campuses across South Africa. Johnny was in the audience at one of those talks and Ted Kennedy told them that this was not only their problem. That racism was a global issue, and that South Africa was simply one more place struggling against it. Johnny explained that until then, the youth of South Africa felt they were in a bubble. That no one understood what they were fighting against. Ted Kennedy made them feel part of something much bigger.
Ted Kennedy of course had many problems in his life when he returned to the States including the scandal of Chapaquidick ( I probably totally misspelled that) and alcoholism just to name a few. He found love late in life and went on to regain face, and legislate a couple of hundred laws during his life of public service. He championed many causes and made a real difference in the world through his contributions. The above quote was said about him at his funeral.
I have heard it said that Nelson Mandela was a reckless and arrogant man before spending most of his life in prison. Prison was the making of a hero. A wise man. A leader.
I sat in the audience last night and thought about how the forces of our lives shape each and every one of us. That we can no more hope to escape this life unscathed than we could hope to escape being born. Every aspect of what we face in life, is like the fire that tempers the steel of our character. Instead of raging against the things that test us the most, we should be grateful, for it is those things that often forge the very traits that give us the strength to stand up for what we believe in. That make us unafraid of what others will think of us. When you have faced the bottom and lived, what more have you to lose?
I admire people who have faced that kind of adversity and moved through it to come out the other side a better person. I truly believe I have more to learn from someone who has fallen a few times and taken a few wrong turns, than from someone who has done it all "right". I want to teach my own sons, it is not when you fall and make a mistake that you fail. It is when you don't get right back up again. There is no shame in making a mistake, only in not correcting it once you realize you have made it. Sometimes kids today are so afraid to make a mistake that they get frozen. Stuck, paralyzed to make a wrong turn. What I have learned in my life is that things come to you when you are in motion. And sometimes you think you have taken the wrong way, when in fact what you ran into, might end up being the making of you.
Food for thought...
In love and light,
Kathryn
No comments:
Post a Comment