“We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results”
Herman Melville
I am in possession of an artist's heart. I find it hard to even get dressed in the morning without expressing my individuality and mood thru my outfit choice. I arrange the food on my plate as if it were a painting and parent like a sculptor, trying to mold the raw clay into a something beautiful and unique. My favorite medium is fiber. I will weave yarn into clothing, reeds into baskets, and guitar strings into melodies. As I sat in attendance at the Spring Festival this weekend, my mind kept thinking of the word INTERCONNECTION. Everything that I was observing reminded me of Herman Melville's quote that states our lives are all connected and what energy we send out into the world comes back to us. The energy at Sunday's Spring Festival could not have been more positive. The theme was CREATIVITY and our society connects us with many talented members who exhibited their creative spirit for everyone to enjoy.
Several individuals displayed their art and spoke of its personal significance. It takes courage to get in front of a crowd and share something so deeply personal. But with great risk comes great reward and we all grow closer to one other in the moments when we are vulnerable. When we are willing to dance, sing, speak, read and share in front of a crowd. Our society is filled with wonderful people who could not be more supportive and encouraging towards our members young and old who are willing to put themselves out there. Our society connects us to people who will join together to show fellowship and acceptance to one another.
Our unique geographical location affords us the opportunity to make a wide impact with our good deeds. Spring Festival marked the culmination of a Youth-led Conservation Service Project. We raffled off the milkweed seeds that were planted and nurtured by our Sunday School students over the past 3 weeks. The Sunday School learned in class about how we are interconnected to our environment. They discussed what is causing the decimation of pollinating insects and how its effects will be felt at our kitchen tables when we no longer have certain foods available to eat. Six lucky winners were able to take home a milkweed seedling from the festival to plant in their yard in order to assist in habitat restoration for our insect pollinators. Because our members live across several states in the Mid-Atlantic region, our conservation efforts can reach far and wide. Our society connects us to people who share our passion for taking care of our planet and all of its inhabitants.
Tradition also weaves our lives together. And Sunday's March of the Turtles and Snails was a prime example of this. Children in the Special Places class are taught a hands-on curriculum that explores basic needs, comfort, homes, and community. The class is taught through stories and the building of various homes. One of those homes are the shells of turtles and snails and the children get very excited about building their own cardboard shells and performing a small skit for the society. Especially touching this year was that two graduates of the Sunday School program were in attendance and shared their own happy memories of when they took this class and marched across the stage to Raffi's song “Slow Day”. Our society connects us to people who help us mark the passage of time thru the traditions we share.
This society connects us and I am so blessed to be a member of a diverse group of individuals that come together for fellowship, social action, community and expression.
