the power of practice

A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with a friend and talking about the challenges of our work: hers in the tough field of disaster recovery, mine with newly arriving asylum seekers and refugees. I am soft spoken by nature and sensitive to others and to the world around me. I have worked hard in my profession over the years to "toughen up", to be more confident, assertive, and effective. Yet, somehow, as I was sharing with my friend, I seem to get softer and more sensitive every year!  

I spend a lot of time in solidarity with people that are struggling, and I know that this changes me for the better, expands my heart. Yet we are trained that professional success is something very different. To "do" work is to have a tangible outcome, and to feel as if we have failed if we do not. About this time, my friend shared with me a poem written by Adrienne Rich in the late 1970s.  

“...But gentleness is active/gentleness swabs the crusted stump/invents more merciful instruments/to touch the wound beyond the wound.”
 
I think this is why I feel so comfortable at Central, and at the same time, why it is such an open and inviting place for others. Gentleness is active everywhere and present in all the ways that we practice radical inclusiveness throughout Galveston. I have been paying attention to this for the past few weeks at Central and I have come to recognize and feel complete in the practice of being gentle. Just like the poem, we don't, and may never know what magic it holds for the recipient.