Sleepy

“Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a diviner sense, harmony is the real and discord the unreal. We may well be perplexed at human fear; and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions of evil. But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?”
— Mary Baker Eddy

I’m posting this quote today not because I’ve gotten the hang of it, but because I haven’t, and I need to.

We are doing a poetry unit right now at school. I love teaching poetry. I especially love reading the poems the kids write themselves. Some of them are awful, of course, but some of them are brilliant.

Some are also very, very revealing. Kids are very honest in their poetry. They share things they might not otherwise talk about. And some of the things they share break my heart. Some of my kids have never known anything but conflict and pain. Some have witnessed abuse. Some have experienced abuse. Some have lost parents. Some have lost siblings. Some have lost friends.

All of them break my heart. I am trying very hard not to “stand aghast at nothingness.” But it’s hard to reach that “diviner sense” that knows only harmony when the nothingness in question seems to be hurting my kids.

Emily