by Sharon Bray “Before you know what kindness really is,” poet Naomi Shihab Nye tells us, “you must lose things…” Loss. It’s often synonymous with cancer. Loss of hair, parts of the body; loss of self-image, of dreams, or loss of loved ones. We feel overwhelmed as we face a landscape defined only by losses, hopelessness and grief. Before you know what kindness really is –from “Kindness”, by Naomi Shihab-Nye in The Words Under The Words ©1994
For the Week of January 15, 2012:
Lost and Found
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.
Here’s a suggestion for writing. First, take a blank sheet of paper and list all that you have lost. Don’t stop there. Turn the page over. Now list the acts of kindness that you remember, the ones that made a difference. And gave you hope, rediscover what you thought your lost or help you see things in a new light? Explore what you’ve lostand what you’ve found