Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Part Two: A Place to Pause and Reflect

This section was a surprise!  It consists of exactly six short quotes, illustrated by gray and white versions of the people on the cover.  Hmm, I wonder if I could actually find them in this picture.  Yes. the first sentence uses the two fellows with the dog, though it's been flipped.  The people to the dog's right illustrate the second sentence, and it has also been flipped.
1.  Conversation is the natural way we humans think together.  (pp. 46-47)
2.  We can't be creative if we refuse to be confused.  (pp. 48-49)
The third quotation has the man at the far bottom left on my book cover, though only the tip of his head shows up in this wide picture.  The fourth illustration is from the center of this picture (and in the center of the front cover).  It shows the man holding the baby and talking to a woman.
3.  It's not differences that divide us.  It's our judgments about each other that do.  (pp. 50-51)
4.  There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.  (pp. 52-53)
The woman on the page with the fifth quote is not on the cover of my book, but in the illustration above, she's standing alone near the three people on the bottom right.  It looks like she is holding two or three books.  The guy wearing all blue (in the middle, above and on the book) is my favorite, simply because he's standing there reading a book.  The mother and child illustration for the sixth quote is to the left of the blue man reading his book.
5.  Am I becoming someone I respect?  (p. 54)
6.  Reality doesn't change itself.  We need to act.  (p. 55)
Is this one way to "pause and reflect"?  Maybe my little exercise in matching the gray-toned people inside the book with their colorful personas on the cover is a reminder of what we learned in Part One:
  • "What do you see?"  (p. 7)
  • "We try to stay curious about each other."  (p. 33)
  • "Listen well."  (p. 7)
  • "And, as we slow down the conversation to a pace that encourages thinking, we become wise and courageous actors in our world"  (p. 13)
  • "I have witnessed the astonishing power of good listening." (p. 12)
  • "We can change the world if we start listening to one another again."  (p. 15)

10 comments:

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Is this one way to "pause and reflect"?

AuntyDon said...

"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." (pp. 52-53) "Am I becoming someone I respect?" (pp. 54) These two statements go together, although I would switch them around. I think inner reflective is the beginning of change. From knowing who I want to be, I can advance to conversing with my neighbors to act upon making this a better place for all to live.

Shirley said...

Donna's reminder of inner reflection needed for change to begin reminds me of Matthew 22:39 that we love our neighbor as ourself. In order to love others, we must love ourselves. In order to converse with others about making lives better, we have to know ourselves. However, it isn't as easy as it sounds.

AuntyDon said...

Good point, Shirley. I would add that I believe that we all are "good" people, that goodness is our natural state. That's why I like the quote from page 54.

Realizing that we are "respectable" in the most important meaning of the word is a step in expanding respect to all others. It reminds me of the most important lesson I wanted my students to internalize -- that you don't need to respect a person to treat them with respect. It is our "duty" as social beings to treat everyone we meet with respect whether or not that person reciprocates or not. So I guess I mean that we need to respect ourselves before we can respect others and make all lives better.

I look forward to our future conversations. Good beginning!

Shirley said...

Good points about people being naturally good and worthy of being respected.

Too often churches are guilty of focusing on original sin even claiming that babies are sinful because of Adam's sin and that their crying shows their selfishness!! However, studies show that babies at a young age express concern when they hear other babies crying.

The showing of respect is similar to the golden rule as we treat others with respect because we want to be treated with respect as well.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Albert Schweitzer said, "It is a man's sympathy with all creatures that truly makes him a man. Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living things, man himself will not find peace."

I add "or woman" to the thought. We have to care about other people, other creatures, and the whole earth.

Shirley, about babies expressing concern when other babies cry -- I have twin daughters. When they were little, both slept in the same room, so when one woke up and cried, so did the other. If they were "selfish" as claimed, this wouldn't have happened to me. I'd go in and (obviously) have to pick up one first. No matter which one I went to first, they both quit crying. I was there, and the "second" baby knew I'd get to her shortly. As long as one got attention, both were satisfied with Mom's response. That says something about LACK of selfishness, in my opinion.

Shirley said...

Your daughters certainly gave a wonderful confirmation of empathy at an early age.

I forgot to mention that I was impressed with your insightful observations about the illustrations. I thought that they were a nice reflection of worldwide people, but hadn't even thought of tying them in with the book.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Shirley, I'm glad you got something out of my reflections on the illustrations of people. I was trying to be "mindful" of everything the book had to offer, so I looked at the people and what they were doing. I'm a visual person, so I notice what I see. Part Two had very few words (making them that much more important), and the illustrations are bigger than their color counterparts on the cover.

What do you notice on the cover? I see two babes in arms and one pet — what, only one!? I see a couple of toddlers, one running loose. And of course, that man reading his book and the woman on page 54 holding something, maybe two or three books.

Shirley said...

Goodness! I sure do miss a lot by not being more attentive to the pictures. Maybe your observations and my need to do so with my grandson will help me to notice things more.

All of the folks EXCEPT the reader appear to be either "turning to one another" or approaching others. Our dear reader seems much alone. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm......I hope that doesn't reflect too much about my tendencies. However, I do generally visit when around others.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Wow, Shirley, I hadn't thought of it that way, that everyone pictured is "turning to one another" except the reader. Good observation — and comment.

On the other hand, isn't readying a book like having a conversation with the author? Through books, we get insights from people far and wide and from people who lived long ago. Then, of course, we'd need to discuss those insights and ideas — and that's what this Book Buddies blog is all about, discusing what we've read.