bethesourceproject

Week Thirty-Seven: Seniors, Be the Source of a Warm September Welcome

I like rituals. Rituals were designed for people, like me, who get connected to people and places only to find that those two things are often moving parts, always shifting and changing with the scenery. This transience requires a sort of flexibility that I didn’t have in college, when it was needed the most because each summer brought several changes: roommates, courses, and apartments. Sometimes majors. : )

My college roommate (and oldest friend) Lindsay and I ritualized our move out of our first apartment by writing to the next year’s tenants. In a letter sized envelope we poured the year’s victories (just getting through it!) battles (I think chemistry was Lindsay’s and an Intro to religious studies was mine) great loves (who will remain anonymous). Mostly, we left the next year’s roommates with the wisdom that two 19 year-olds had gathered from a period of intense personal growth. I remember hiding it in the hallway closet on the shelf, “I hope they find it” we said while surreptitiously planting the clue, certain that our lessons might help ease some of their own transitional burdens, but equally certain that the next duo would need to at least search for the envelope in order to earn the contents.

Now, when I think about it years later, this simple act feels so adorable and naive; but, it is equally loving. I have drawn on these types of advice letters that come through books and television and sometimes even older friends.

I also like the symmetry. One group leaves as another enters. I will be teaching freshman next year. This year I teach mostly seniors. I plan to pass an envelope to each of my freshman on the first day. It will be a greeting from the seniors that left right before the freshman entered, what Steve Jobs prophetically called clearing out the old to make room for the new.

These letters, of welcome and advice, will wait safely all summer on the top shelf of my classroom closet, but I promise I won’t make the freshman search for them. : )

True story.

Week Thirty-Six: Be the Source of Sparkle (for some very deserving little girls)

I might sit at my computer and stare at this word document for hours before I find the word to

communicate the faces of the children at the Salvation Army (houseless) shelter when I gave them the books for a Be the Source Project from months ago. “Books! New books!” they squealed as though I were inviting them onto a Disney Cruise ship…one girl ran upstairs right away to tuck her book safely into the room she shares with her family. It changed my worldview instantly.

However, I find it nearly impossible to maintain this sense of perspective in my normal life. Yes, we have running water and electricity. Yes, I can go to the grocery store and buy food, even dessert if I choose. Yes, I have a car to drive. Yet, the norm becomes so, well, normal. I want to continue to replay these faces in my mind again and again, not just as reminders to be grateful, but as invitations to find ways to give. Give MORE. Give BIGGER. Really share all that we have.

There is that bumper sticker. Have you seen it?

Live simply so others can simply live.

This week, I just have to return to the shelter to give more to the little angels that live there.

“What would a little girl love?” I thought to myself.

And so, we will be wrapping sparkly lip gloss, pink eye shadows, and glittery blush into cellophane bags. We will wrap these bags with ribbon. The girls have shiny faces already, and this will only amplify their beauty by bringing them a little piece of kindness from high school girls miles away. Afterall, girls are girls and everyone loves feeling beautiful.

I will end this post with a lovely quotation from Deepak Chopra’s The Path to Love

This is Be the Source love: more expansive than we can ever understand with our human eyes.

“you are trapped in a definition of love that is far too limited. Expand your definitions to go beyond emotional needs and your whole perspective will change. You won’t see failure and defeat. Far from it. You’ll see perfection. AT every moment, from the second you were conceived in the womb, your life has been about love. Your existence is an expression of love, the only real expression it can have.”

ps. the mother’s day poems are written, lovely, and waiting to be transcribed here. Stay tuned. : )

Week Thirty Five: Be the Source of a Poem for Mom

This beautiful poem was written by a student at Tamalpais High School and based on a poem by George Ella Lyon called “I am From”

The poem is a tribute to family, to the givers of memories, the crafters of our childhood: our parents. What a beautiful and loving gift to give in honor of Mother’s Day, a poem that communicates both the legacy and the identity of our family. For this week’s project, you will create an “I am From” poem for your parents and post it in the comments section below. Consider coming from food or tools. Perhaps you came from a smell in the kitchen or a song your grandmother used to sing. Did you come from a tradition? A saying? A favorite story?

You came from your family. This identity was their gift to you,  and your gift in return can be the deep gratitude for this gift and the artistic expression of a poem. Of course, you can still cover it macaroni and glitter the way most Mother’s Day gifts are….

The happiest writing to you, Read more

Molded for the Greater Good

Week Thirty Four: Be the Source of Light to the Prison

Mother Theresa was in the States helping to open a shelter, I think it was in Philadelphia, and a radio announcer was persistent in his desire to provide free advertising for the opening. She continued to turn down his offers of continued fund-raising and finally she said, “Ok, young man. You seem like a very serious person. If you would like something to do that would help me, go to the streets of Philidelphia tomorrow.

Find one person who thinks he is alone.

And convince him he’s not.”

When I was in eighth grade at St. Hubert’s middle school we were practicing a song for graduation which required each student to hold a candle and pass the flame down the row until the entire stage would be lit with our light. We still laugh with each other (as only old friends can) because our teachers were nervous that one false move would ensure that the entire class of 1999 would go up in flames in front of the entire congregation. Instead, we stood in neatly rows singing “carry your candle, go light the darkness” while passing an imaginary flame, making sure to rally connect each unlit wick for effect.

It is a funny image but it is the one I am picturing when I type my favorite story of Mother Theresa. Lit or unlit, the metaphoric candle pass is really what Mother Theresa is talking about.

And here’s the kicker.We have all been the lit candle. And the unlit candle. We have all been the person doing the convincing. We have all been the convinced.

It is so beautiful that it works like this. The perfect invention of the human experience. To put it simply, we need each other. We are here to serve each other.

I guess it only just occurred to me that Be The Source Project has been a very systematic movement down an unwritten list of people who might think they are alone. Or unappreciated. Or unloved.

Yet, we have left one very significant group unlit.

Last week, the seven students in the afterschool Be the Source club wrote letters to the prisoners living at the Janesville Correctional Facility. All I could find was boxes of crayons and colored pencils, so the letters ended up looking very childlike and simple, like letters from their children.

The messages were simple too. I liked that. They really cut to the chase.

“You are not alone.”

“We have not forgotten about you.”

 “We are sending you our love.”

This was the unprompted message from the depths of the hearts of teenagers for prisoners.

The pass of the candle says: you, even you, especially you, are loved and remembered.

So, I pass on that flame to you, and along with it I pass the invitation to find someone today who thinks he is alone.

Convince him that he’s not.

Much love and light from my candle and heart to yours,

Ms. H (ellie)

Week Thirty-Three: Be the Source of a Letter to the Hospital

My Students,

On Saturday I went to visit my friend Rachel at the hospital and I met my goddaughter for the first time. I left with the heart-filled feeling that is inevitable after one has held this brand new life, so marvelous in its miniature version of all of the expected appendages. Oh the wonder of the toes!

On the way out of the hospital I met Janine, there visiting her 82 year old friend and a fellow member of an athletic club for seniors. “We were playing volleyball when he was bumped on the head.” “Wow, I marveled. Good for you, still playing.” “Gotta keep everything in working order. Don’t use it, ya lose it.”

“Isn’t the body a miracle?” I responded, Read more

Week Thirty-Two: Be the Source of a ‘Can I Speak With Your Manager?’

One of my students came bounding into class this morning with this new tattoo. “I live to let you shine” it scrolls in beautiful calligraphy. What a perfect encapsulation of our project. Our goal is always to turn the light away from ourselves, our needs, our concerns, our thoughts and toward another person’s needs, concerns, thoughts.

“How can I help?” we ask. How can I shine the light on you?

I am reading a book about Father Gregory Boyle and his nonprofit foundation Homeboy Industries called Tattoos Across the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. Like my student’s tattoo, Father Boyle allows his love for the gang members of LA to be like a tattoo across his heart. He makes every decision Read more

Be the Source Update…

Last week was a success. These puppies went fast!

Check it out:

(and stay tuned for this week’s project. we’ll post it tomorrow!)

Week Thirty-One: Be the Source of a Pull-Tab Paper!

You know those little pull tab deals that have a phone number to call for a new apartment roomie or a drummer for your band. In my mind, this is a flat-out missed opportunity for being the Source. What other messages could we send to each other besides our phone number? I found this picture of smiles ready to be given long distance from a stranger and it made me, well, smile! Mostly, I love that the giver doesn’t have to be there when the gift is given, so it is like the ripple of love that happens whenever we decide to “Source” something!  You can never know the full extent of your gift. So get out a sharpie, kids, and write your message for the world! Post in a public space and trust that the ones who really need to hear what you have to say will be walking by the Barnes and Noble bulletin board at JUST EXACTLY the right second. They will. That’s how it works.

What is your message?