Good morning…
As I wallowed in my mistake I remembered a poignant story from Brene Brown’s The Gifts Of Imperfection. On page 14, Brene writes: “I recently saw another example of ordinary courage at my son Charlie’s preschool. Parents were invited to attend a holiday music presentation put on by the kids. You know the scene – twenty-five children singing with fifty-plus parents, grandparents, and siblings in the audience wielding thirty-nine video cameras. The parents were holding cameras in the air and randomly snapping pictures while they scrambled to make sure that their kids knew they were there and on time.”
Brene continues: “In addition to all the commotion in the audience, one three-year-old girl, who was new to the class, cried her way through the entire performance because she could not see her mom from the makeshift stage. As it turns out, her mother was stuck in traffic and missed the performance. By the time her mother arrived, I was kneeling but the classroom door telling Charlie good-bye. From my low vantage point, I watched the girl’s mother burst through the door and immediately start scanning the room for her daughter. Just as I was ready to stand up and point her to the back of the classroom where a teacher was holding her daughter, another mother walked by us, looked straight at this stressed mom, shook her head, and rolled her eyes.”
Brene recalls: “I stood up, took a deep breath, and tried to reason with the part of me that wanted to chase after that better-than-you eye-rolling mom and kick her perfectly punctual ass. Just then two more moms walked up to this now tearful mother and smiled. One of the mothers put her hand on the top of the woman’s shoulder and said, ‘We’ve all been there. I missed the last one. I wasn’t just late. I completely forgot.’ I watched as the woman’s face softened, and she wiped away a tear. The second woman looked at her and said, ‘My son was the only one who wasn’t wearing pajamas on PJ Day – he still tells me it was the most rotten day ever. It will be okay. We’re all in the same boat.”
Brene concludes: “By the time this mother made it to the back of the room where the teacher was still comforting her daughter, she looked calm. Something that I’m sure came in handy when her daughter lunged at her from about six feet away. The moms who stopped and shared their stories of imperfection and vulnerability were practicing courage. They took the time to stop and say, “Here’s my story, You’re not alone.” They didn’t have to stop and share; they could have easily joined the perfect-parent parade and marched right by her. …Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little better and the world a little braver. And our world could stand to be a little kinder and braver.”
A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life, But a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit (Proverbs 15:4, AMP).
…Sue…
