As you read this week, contemplating your personal connection to the characters in the story, I offer you the opportunity to consider our connection to each other. In my work with youth, I often try to explain our connection as members of the human “family” by describing the different parts of a hand. From the outside we see the fingers, fingernails, knuckles and joints. We can even see veins and, of course, the skin. Underneath there are the bones and connective tissue, as well as the blood pulsing through and other things. What a wonder it is, the hand, all working together so we can hold things (like the hand of another!).

So here we have all these different things that come together to form one thing, a hand. That’s what I tell my students is how it works as people. We are all like a particular part of the hand that when brought together to work together, form something greater than our individual part. Indeed, a finger is miraculous all by itself, but in concert with other things it becomes a hand!

Wow!

A former student of mine, having experienced my excitement over connections, just sent me a link to this website for the Joy T-Shirt. For further inspiration, I encourage you to take a look.