Category: connection

United As One

United As One

“I guess we’ll just have to sing it ourselves.”

200 of us stood at the starting line of a local 5k fundraiser. Traditionally, before the air horn signals the start of the race a singer will perform an A Capella version of “The Star Spangled Banner”. But the singer, for whatever reason, was nowhere to be found.

So, with our eyes gazed upon the nearby flag pole, we just sang it ourselves.

It was organic, authentic, and beautiful.

There is something quite moving and unifying when a group of ordinary people stand together and share their collective voices for a common cause. Old voices, young voices, loud voices, soft voices. All voices, expressed individually yet together as one. 

In a seemingly divided world, maybe we’re not as divided as we’re told we are.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

 

An Unexpected Expression Of Humanity

An Unexpected Expression Of Humanity

I’d forgotten what college tour season was like. But here we are meandering from school to school with student ambassadors walking us through their campuses enthusiastically pitching us as to why they feel their school is the ideal place to spend the next four years.

After these tours, the Standard Operating Procedure has been each school’s admission office sending out a generic “thanks for visiting our school” email and reminding us of key dates ahead in the application process. In our old fashioned US Postal Service mailbox, though, we received an unusual surprise.

A hand written personalized Thank You note from one of the student tour guides we had visited. It’s the only Thank You card we’ve received from any of them.

Certainly you don’t decide on a college based upon getting a card in the mail after a tour. But in receiving such a card, Devin the student tour guide differentiated himself from the other equally competent tour guides we’ve interacted with through this process. 

Devin’s note stirred up an inner conversation about gratitude and connection. The digital world of emails, texts, and faceless AI interfaces is cold and vastly impersonal especially when compared to the warmth and authenticity found in receiving something hand created specifically for you. Continue reading “An Unexpected Expression Of Humanity” →