April 06, 2024

Quote of the Week

"Love in action is service to the world" -- Lynne Namka

Why The Morning-Glory Climbs

By Elizabeth McCracken

"Once the Morning-Glory was flat on the ground. She grew that way, and she had never climbed at all. Up in the top of a tree near her lived Mrs Jennie Wren and her little baby Wren. The little Wren was lame; he had a broken wing and couldn't fly. He stayed in the nest all day. But the mother Wren told him all about what she saw in the world, when she came flying home at night. She used to tell him about the beautiful Morning-Glory she saw on the ground. She told him about the Morning-Glory every day, until the little Wren was filled with a desire to see her for himself.

"How I wish I could see the Morning-Glory!" he said.

The Morning-Glory heard this, and she longed to let the little Wren see her face. She pulled herself along the ground, a little at a time, until she was at the foot of the tree where the little Wren lived. But she could not get any farther, because she did not know how to climb. At last she wanted to go up so much, that she caught hold of the bark of the tree, and pulled herself up a little. And little by little, before she knew it, she was climbing.

And she climbed right up the tree to the little Wren's nest, and put her sweet face over the edge of the nest, where the little Wren could see.

That was how the Morning-Glory came to climb."

---- We lovingly sourced the above story from this digital collection, and hope you will gather with your family and any older children and teenagers around you to share this story. Consider contemplating on how our sense of service, of doing something outside the peripheries of the 'self' (particularly a shot at something you haven't tried before!) can open a new dimension, a vision, a skill that was previously unknown. As happened with the Morning-Glory flower, it bloomed past its perceived heights. Enjoy.

Reading Corner

Name: Charlotte's Web
Author: EB White
Ages: 9+

"I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

Wilbur is 'some pig' who is radiant and humble. [...]

But would you believe me if I said that this radiant pig was almost killed..... twice? This is Wilbur's remarkable journey from almost being bacon to a beacon in the community! But this is not just his Journey. It's about Fern, the little girl who saved Wilbur's life when he was just a runt, and it's about Charlotte, a smart and sweet spider who befriends Wilbur.

And Charlotte can spell (and weave words into the web)!

It's a great children's book. If I were a kid, I would've loved it even more. And as an adult, (well, an almost adult) I loved the descriptions on summer and Charlotte's protective instincts towards Wilbur [...]

In the end, Charlotte's Web is a story about kindness and love. It's about reaffirming faith in a person's personality and values rather than appearances.

And above all, It's about the value of friendship." -- A review on Goodreads

If you feel so inclined you could also watch the 2006 movie adaptation of this life-forming fiction.

Gather with children to take a dip in this endearing tale that reminds us to get to know people and surroundings anew -- without preconceived notions, without judgments on outer appearances. This is how Wilbur and Charlotte touched each other's heart and gained a friend in each other and weaved a sense of community. Discuss with children how exercising our lives in similarly committed ways is equally an act of service.
 

Be the Change

Invite children to greet ten or so persons they cross paths with outside home. Do this activity with them. Use your local, vernacular language. Greet with a smile, with a hand-wave, with an extra dollop of joy as if you already knew these humans. Try to turn off your labeling machine: rich, poor, homeless, short, tall, fat, black, brown and so on. Customize with local language and gestures (howdy, shalom, namaste, salaam, etc) as if they are to convey an unspoken form of love. Do this for couple of days and see what happens. It will likely pollinate. Note: it is completely okay to stop if participants don't feel inclined to do this.