Last night the moon was full and captivating. It was a Bella Luna; a Moonstruck moon. Every night Casey and I let Fiona outside for her evening frolick and we look for our moon. Casey, like plenty of us, is fascinated with the moon. Last summer when we were driving through the rolling hills of CT at dusk, she whispered, "Mommy I am watching the moon. It is riding with us."
When looking at the moon, you can't help but be drawn into its glory and wonder who else is gazing at it at the same time. Are those other gazing eyes happy? Are they struggling? Are they diabolical? Are they pensive? Are they hopeful?
Moon gazing is grounding. It allows us to have a deeper connection to the rest of the world as it highlights our overall insignificance and significance.
With all of the current global happenings, it is difficult to not start your day each morning like Holly Hunter did in throwback movie "Broadcast News." Her ritual each morning was to go into her office, sit down, engage in heavy sobbing, wipe the snot from her nose, and exclaim, "There, that felt good. I'm ready for my day."
I do not begin my day sobbing at a desk, but I do typically begin my day in an intensely thoughtful, emotional way by giving mental affirmation and gratitude for every blessing that visits my life and the lives of others close to me, and wishing strength and compassion to all those in need.
It is imperative to channel hope and compassion in your life everyday. When I litigated discrimination cases, a job that required me to investigate, expose, and try to understand and remedy the behavioral flaws of men and women who harbored and acted upon ill will, ignorance and prejudice, I was given the privilege of meeting many, many people. Some I liked, some I loved, and some I disliked.
After years and years and thousands and thousands of hours of questioning people in such cases, one line of testimony from a company officer impacted me the most. He said that our species is "inherently flawed." That premise has resonated with me for years and it will continue to do so. I believe that that "flaw" is actually a purposeful design to make us a great species. We all have within us the ability to do good and to be kind and the capability to be mean and act selfishly. We all act on these abilities every day; the only difference is the degree and extent of our acts. It is our exercise of our gift of free will that defines how we live our lives.
Acting upon hope and compassion for our "flawed species" gains the utmost importance in view of our children and grandchildren. It is the children who are not corrupted by the challenges of life. When my daughter was drawing on the driveway with chalk, she found a dandelion. She squealed that we should blow the spores and make a wish. We blew and she yelled, "I wish that everyone has happiness in their heart."
My daughter is not growing up in a war ravaged nation. She is not living the tragedy that the Japanese children find themselves in. She does not go hungry at night. She is not sleeping in a make-shift shelter. She knows not of physical or mental abuse. However, she sees kindness and unkindness at her young age, even if it pales in comparison to the horrors experienced today by other children.
It is that kindness and unkindness that I, as her parent, guardian and trustee, must diligently show her. Because she is 5, I use words like "grumpy bumpy" and "crabapple" to describe unkind behaviors, but I also stress that just because a person's behavior is bad, does not mean that that person is a bad person unworthy of compassion and forgiveness. The "grumpy bumpies" and "crabapples" are sad and misdirected and often need kindness and compassion.
The lesson for my daughter is that "Class Equals Kindness." I do not care what your educational level or socioeconomic status is. People with class are kind. My goal is to raise a compassionate child and it is my obligation as a "flawed" adult to practice what I preach every day. It is us: the mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles and grandparents who are tasked with the privilege of illuminating the meaning of the Moon for all of our children living in each of our wonderlands.
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