i did not take french in high school.
a friend did, and she shared with me that the french teacher, Ms. Mahoney, would let students come into her classroom during lunch if they were having a bad day to stand on the desk.
i could have used french, this type of french. the invitation to avail myself of a different way of looking. a teacher of mine, Rahshib Thomas, says "a miracle is the willingness to see things differently." it’s also the invitation to see things differently, whether or not anyone takes you up on it.
Ms. Mahoney, Billie Holiday singing Good Morning Heartache. people finding and insisting on creative, caring ways to meet their blues. what’s goofier/more uncomfortable than a drastic turn away from social norms/expectations (i.e. standing on desk, or literally greeting our most painful emotions) is ignoring them or pretending they aren’t there.
i had lunch with a dear dear dear friend on friday, and she reminded me of this quote,
“….and yet, every human being is an unprecedented miracle. One tries to treat them as the miracles they are, while trying to protect oneself against the disasters they’ve become.” James Baldwin, No Name in the Street
we agreed that there’s so much grace in that. and truth. and what really gets me about James Baldwin again and again is the intensity and clarity of his regard, the willingness to really look, and really see, and really tell.
maybe the willingness to see things differently is the willingness to see them as they really are for the first time. the willingness to look again and to find out that you were wrong.
things. desks. the ground from further away. people from closer up. life reaching for you.
qui diable sait.