On Monday the journalism department gave me a send-off party. After years of slights and shoddy treatment, the department rallied. Interesting how that is, isn't it! I guess people figure, She's out the door. Why not be nice?
And the send-off was very sweet. About 15 people stopped by. They were all very kind. They gave me a $100 Visa card, orchids, balloons, and a card. Four students also gave me heartfelt cards.
Here is the thank-you email I sent out just moments ago:
Thanks so much to everyone who attended my send-off party. Thanks, too, to all who contributed to my day at the spa--what I plan to do with my Visa card. And the orchids are lovely, still looking good atop my kitchen table. As always, thanks to Teri and Carolyn, the force behind so much kindness that issues from the department.
When I first learned that something was being planned for me, I felt my eyes get a little watery. You can't imagine how challenging the last decade has been, and especially the past six months. Acts of kindness--often from unexpected quarters--have done so much to boost my spirits--a neighbor helping me lift some boxes, my son's friends stopping by to say hello, a smile from a passing stranger.
Perhaps you already know this, and practice this on a daily basis, but perhaps, too, it bears iteration: Every day each one of you touches the lives of many. You choose whether your interactions will be ego- or other-centered. You chose whether you will treat each individual as a valuable human being, someone richly deserving of respect and consideration, or whether you will only treat others as vehicles to further your own goals. Ironically, it is when you choose the former path that beautiful things begin to happen, not only for the person to whom you show kindness, but to your own self as well.
The ancient Greeks spoke of a golden light that dwells within every soul and how it is each individual's moral duty to allow that light to shine forth to the world. If one has artistic talent, for example, he would be morally bankrupt if he instead became an accountant--for the money--and never picked up a paintbrush again. And someone who has a knack for numbers would be equally culpible should he waste years engaged in so-so art projects when he could be assisting hundreds of people with their financial woes. So, too, the best teachers have a golden light that they bring forth to their students; they reveal their excellence to the world through their work, and their students see this in their passion for their subject and their concern for their students' advancement and well being.
There is a golden light of kindness as well, a deep knowledge that everyone is a valuable human being deserving of the very best that life can give. I felt this golden light at my send-off party. For this I am grateful.
May this find you in good health and in good spirits,
Heidi
