Kindness

Posted on April 18, 2013 by ivonprefontaine

This is a wonderful poem from Naomi Shihab Nye shared by Bill. If we were kind to each other each day, could we reduce the violence in our world? Compassion requires time to just be in the world and with the world including other humans we often take for granted.

drbillwooten's avatarDr Bill Wooten

“Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You…

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About ivonprefontaine

In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms. I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders. I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs. I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry. I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry. I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope, nonviolence and its anticipatory relationship with the future, as essential elements to teaching and learning. Academic publications can be found at Ivon Gile Prefontaine on ResearchGate

8 responses »

  1. Vicki's avatar victoriaaphotography | April 18, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    Thanks for sharing the words, Ivon.
    It WOULD be a much better world if everyone went out of their way to bestow kindness every single day of their lives, but alas, there are too many negative emotions that fill people’s minds – Kindness and Compassion are easy to accept, but harder for some people to bestow.

    Reply
  2. lvsrao's avatar lvsrao | April 20, 2013 at 8:21 am

    Beautiful and well invited post. Do need kindness and compassion.

    Reply
  3. WordsFallFromMyEyes's avatar WordsFallFromMyEyes | April 20, 2013 at 10:45 am

    A beautiful reminder. It feels good to be kind; I don’t know why more people are not.

    Reply
  4. Esssellle - Swati Lahiri's avatar Esssellle - Swati Lahiri | April 21, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    Outstanding words…this is the ultimate emotion that one could have ,this is simple and very easily can be executed when ego comes in the way..alas..the whole purpose gets defeated;the million dollar question crops up ..”Why me and why not him”…!
    Many thanks,Ivon.

    Reply

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