I watched as it happened yet it still causes me to feel a strange combination of humility, delight and just the slightest fragrance of “was what I said a part of that?”
I think I know the answer.
I had given myself the privilege of not leading a writing program. I lead many programs so it is a pleasure and a privilege to simply sit back as a participant and allow someone else the joy of facilitation and me, the joy of simply being there as a community member.
We were all sitting in a circle as our program ended and those who wanted to share were given the time and space to share. One woman prefaced her statements with, “I am not going to read what I wrote…” and the rest of us surely believed that was just fine, but as I listened to her, I wanted to add support.
“What I wrote today was complete chaos. That’s how it works sometimes. I would be glad to read what I wrote if it would give you some encouragement to read yours.”
Her eyes lit up and her words tumbled forth and before I knew it, she was reading her words. She didn’t need my written chaos to encourage her, she needed my permission that whatever she wrote would be just right.
Ironically, what she wrote was beautifully crafted with a satisfying blend of emotions and vivid imagery. When she finished, the other women writers lavished specific praise on her words.
I said, “What a privilege to watch you. Even your countenance has changed.”
The others agreed.
She had been sort of huddled over her book before, head tilted down, burrowed forehead, grey. Now she was sitting upright, shoulders back, eyes raised and not a slight smile but a huge grin covering her pink flushed face.
I thought it would take my art to help her with her art, instead it simply took my offer and my permission. She did the rest.
Edgar Degas said, “Art is not what you see, it is what you make others see.”
My art on Saturday was not my words, it was my intention. What I saw was the beauty in another’s words and then held the mirror up to her, so she could see the beauty in herself.
What art are you making others see today?
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© 2011
Julie Jordan Scott
This is post 17 of 31 in July for the Ultimate Blog Challenge ~
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