It's one of my last days in Becket, MA. Spring is finally here. It's snowing, then raining, then sunny, then sleeting, which is just another New England April.
Last night, a friend of mine ended this journey to begin the next.
It feels like all I see on the news are "big" men making "big" news with their Acts of Congress, their financial mergers, and so often I catch myself thinking, "These men are changing the world."
Then I think back to everything I learned in college about Rome. When you look back at history, these big people, these movers and shakers of men vanish. We try to remember their names... I've spent hours trying to memorize generals and the myriad rulers of Middle Eastern city-states, but they seem to slip through my fingers.
In my mind's eye, I can see the mosaics of the floors of Rome as clearly as the first time I saw them.
Names flicker across the news reels on CNN, and at the time they seem so important. They pass laws, and suddenly I can buy a beer at 21 but can't hunt after November first, and apparently these men have changed my life. But then I think about a Monet and it almost makes me laugh because his water lilies are so vivid in my mind's eye that I will never look at water the same way ever again.
In this world, men of power try to shape the world in their image, and we think they are important. But quiet, constant, and blessed are the people who see the world the way it already is and rejoice in its beauty. They sing songs, enjoy moments, and spread kindness with every action. When I think about the reverberations of their kindness, I am in awe. When I looked over the mountains this morning, I could feel the joy and love that my friend spread, and things felt changed.
Joy, creativity, and celebration are a quiet power. It settles across the world and lives in the hearts of thousands of people, and it makes them better.
They shake the world.
To Marky, who shook the world. Your goodness, warmth, and creativity have left us all profoundly changed for the better.
That is beautiful Becky!
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