Beauty

After a long week of my daughter having the flu, I decided that she deserved a few minutes of outside time. The weather was beautiful and I was in the mood for some fresh air....

The ducks swam in all directions avoiding the still floating thin layer of ice on the water.  They soared above our heads flying with grace and purpose.  Some landed, some seemed to disappear into the sky.  Some forcefully and proudly walked toward bystanders demanding food.  One little girl made a squealing noise and ran for her mother.  Mother patting her on the back of her head and mindlessly throwing out more bread not really seeming to notice how distraught the young girl was.  A couple walked slowly from a green Ford holding left overs in a wrapper headed for the mass of ducks in front of us.  He was limping.  She held his arm tight.  They smiled as they passed. My daughter was in awe of the beauty of it all. The duck sounds, the water ripples, the child hugging her mother's leg, the sun, wind, the boy in the swing being pushed by his father. The wind was chilly but we stood for a long while, her wrapped in my arms gazing out seeing some familiar sites, some new.  The couple walked back to the green Ford, the father and son were sitting on the top of the picnic table and the little girl and mother had disappeared.  We made our way back to the car.  The lady in the green Ford asked me how old my daughter was and I told her that she was 10 months today. How time flies, she told me.  She told me she had wanted a little girl but couldn't have children.  Before I could stumble over my words trying the find the right thing to say, she looked at me very seriously and said, "but I have the best husband in the world." 

What beauty we saw today. 

A stranger

Yet again, I was delightfully surprised when an older woman in front of me smiled ear to ear and sparked conversation about how beautiful my daughter was.  I'm always happy to hear that!  While we were chit-chatting, a lady approached us telling us that a new check out lane was open.  Rather than take her two items and go (she was in front of me, after all), she told me to go ahead. 

Small acts of kindness make the world a better place.  My week has been difficult and that one moment brightened my day just a little bit and reminded me that an angel may be the stranger next to you. 

Ramblings on Morality

I have been thinking some time on the question of morality.  Christians teach it, governments dictate it, parents model it but who is the ultimate authority on what "it" is.  Is it remaining chaste? Is it being kind? Is it turning the other cheek?  Is it helping your neighbor? Is it morality as defined by a dictionary?  Perhaps it is the Latin meaning which is according to one online dictionary to be a manner, character or proper behavior.  Further research into the matter led me to a more familiar definition of conduct and ethics.  So, if according to me, you are not conducting yourself in a proper manner should I consider you to be immoral?  Or, if I am not acting in line with your ethics and ideas, then am I immoral?  And, if you and I don't agree on who is moral, then what?  Perhaps both of us are without morality!

A person close to me recently reminded me that 'it is all created'.  I have found this to be incredibly true of most things.  The more we try to conceptualize things, the further we stray from the truth. So, I offer we are both moral, you and I because we each believe it to be so.