Oregon Humanities

What Rises Up to Meet Us

After bicycling to Oregon Humanities to lead a weekly staff yoga session, our fearless yoga leader Maggie admitted that she was wearing borrowed pants. Not from her sister or her best friend, but loaners that were given to her by a woman in the class she was leading after a tragically wet bike ride. We laughed about what the world offers up to us when we are down. In this case, Maggie is pretty used to getting caught riding her bike in the rain; she gets around Portland by bike and usually wears full rain gear. You may have noticed that lately the sky will switch from blue to gray in a few minutes and incredible amounts of rain will fall. The simplicity of what is offered up is what I found notable. This compassion on a small scale is not hard to deliver and only slightly harder to accept.

These past few weeks have been filled with commencement ceremonies. Both my step-son and my daughter have passed new milestones, even though they are ten years apart in age. I have felt alternately proud, sad, nostalgic, and hopeful as I’ve sat through their ceremonies and the graduation events of friends’ children. I’ve sat expectantly listening to the speeches, waiting for a kernel of wisdom to be offered up in an eloquent and memorable package. But what has made its way into my heart is actually the casual observation of friends. “What a rich time of life this is for you.” I rejoice in being a part of a community that offers up insight and compassion.

During a time of unstoppable oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, global poverty, and alienation brought on by isolating “screen time,” it is hard to see what gives us hope for the future. The time is ripe in late May and early June to contemplate the future as graduates walk across the stage and transition so symbolically to the next place of their individual journeys. Where do we see the hope for our future? Where is the opportunity for these students? I believe these graduates will live rich and fulfilling lives as part of a community where they both give and receive on large and small scales. I find myself returning to the human capacity for compassion, the human willingness to rise up and offer care. Even on a basic level of offering mostly unworn, dry pants on a stormy day.

About Carole Shellhart

Carole Shellhart is Oregon Humanities finance manager, known to her colleagues as a numbers guru, finance maven, and artist.

23 June 2010 | Posted by Carole Shellhart in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas
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