Blog Action Day
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 7:32 AM 
Poverty: the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount.
Where do you experience poverty in your life? Do you listen closely to those around you? Do you feel that others listen to you? Do you go through life on autopilot, hurrying from one place to the next? Do you wonder what a blog action day about poverty has to do with you?
Consider this: When we are not fully present to the stories that surround us, we close off the possibility that there is something new to be heard or discovered. We close our minds and our hearts to the possibility that we have something in common with the child in Africa, the mother in Harlem, the Senator in Congress, the homeless man on the corner, our next door neighbor and even the person(s) who sleeps in our own warm house.
On this day of poverty awareness, I would like to pose that we experience a paucity of listening. How might our world be different if we fought the poverty against our own cold hearts of stone? What if we started listening more deeply today? How would the world change? How would you? If only for today, I hope you will choose to listen a little more closely to the world around you.
Peace.
Social Justice
Reader Comments (5)
This is a lovely post. Pithy, meaningful, real. Damn! I wish I'd written it!
So happy to read your words on poverty. I stuggled somewhat with my post on the subject. I get tangled in the fact that I do have so much in common with the persons that you mention in your post. Some of those entanglements make me sad, ashamed, confused, helpless, empowered.
Your words of gentle listening are going with me today:)
xoxoxo
So very true, lucy. When you rub the veneer off, there is so much we have in common with all who are human on the face of the earth. Even when they don't speak the same language, communication is possible. Listening is not just done with the ears.
Well said! Listening seems to be a dying skill. Without it there is no empathy, which I believe to be one of the corner stones for peace. Peace to you, too :)
Great post indeed!!!! I too love the stories that make us human and work to listen to others and their stories on a daily basis, when I'm not reading blogs (LOL).
Thank you for this most meaningful reminder!
G