Friday, October 28, 2016

A Wise Lesson from our Youngest Learners

I walked down the hall here at Davis only to discover yet another thought-provoking and wonderful art installation-- self portraits created by our youngest students, the Mechina children. Looking at the portraits, I was reaffirmed in one of my most basic beliefs-- the irreducible beauty and diversity of the human being.



Each of these self-portraits is made out of the same stuff. Each is a response to the same assignment. But whether it's because of their developing fine motor skills or the way they see themselves or their emerging artistic sensibilities, each portrait is radically different from the next.

I find tremendous truth and comfort in the notion that all of us are made from the same stuff and yet each of us are beautiful and unique in our own ways. Far from being a contradiction, the side-by-side commonality and diversity demonstrate the brilliance of our human design.

I'm grateful to work at a school that teaches such deep wisdom in such simple and compelling ways. I'm grateful to work at a school where diverse self portraits so naturally coexist in harmony and together create a greater whole than the sum of their parts. I'm grateful to be a part of a Kehilah that celebrates our commonality and our diversity in all that we do.


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