Beyond Appearances

Recently, while in Honduras I came a across a little girl who touched my heart.  She was selling her goods with the only English word she knew – “pleeeaaaassseeee”.  At first, I was annoyed at her approach.   I said no at first, then watched her go person to person doing the same thing.  With each clingy request, she was rejected.  The more I watched, the more compassion I felt.  I did not like her approach, but considering her size, it did not appear to be her choice either.

Finally, I decided to approach HER.

I said in a language she did not understand, ” I will give you three dollars for the prettiest one, but you need to pick it out for me”.  She did not understand, but I could see in her eyes she was delighted at our exchange and I don’t think it was about selling the baubles going up her arm.  We continued our ‘not understanding each other” display, but her smile got bigger and bigger as I physically tried to be understood with body language.  I can be quite animated.  I ended up picking one and paying her the three dollars.

With the three dollars in her hand I expected her to take off – mission accomplished!  But her hanging around with a big grin for a few seconds just looking at me told me that this little person enjoyed our exchange even if she had no idea what I was saying.  My buying the piece did not seem to be what made her feel good.

And I recalled the importance and value (in all situations before us) of kindness.

Words of Wisdom

“It takes alot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.  But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.  There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power”

- Margaret Stortz

“The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery.  There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you, and you don’t know how or why.”

- Albert Einstein

“As you begin to live in the present moment, you will experience a subtle but profound change.  Worrying about the future will cease.  A deep peace will enfold you, a peace that says, ‘all is well.  There is nothing to fear.  Everything is unfolding according to plan, and you are being guided each step along the way.”

- Douglas Bloch