Looking Under the Stones

Dear Member of The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara Community,

A friend of WSSB recently received a handwritten note from his daughter for his 70th birthday. The letter, he said, "came in an exquisite handmade envelope: a collage of color cut-outs both hilarious and beautiful. The stationary she used was also handmade, featuring a woman driving a large 'herd' of Indian Running Ducks, a species hilariously unlike other ducks because it spends its entire life walking or running around in the extremely upright posture of human beings." Here's the letter from the daughter (whose name is withheld for the sake of privacy) who is in her late 20s:

"I hope your 70th year is as peaceful as the sunlight washing over this herd/flock of very upright ducks.

What a strange time in the history of our planet to be growing old in, huh?

Such a transformed world since you were a boy.

Also a very strange world to be entering into adulthood in. (After 11 years of being a legal adult I still feel I’m still entering adulthood.)

It can certainly be a time where we are encumbered by a staggering amount of loss — of people, places, species, and most of all (for me) the anticipation of all we can and most likely will lose.
But I’ll be damned if I am not simultaneously encumbered with and immersed in such mind blowing beauty of this world we inhabit, this life we live, and I am so ever-grateful to you to have shared that beauty with me, telling me to crouch down and take a look under the stones and find it it ever since I was a wee pink large-cheeked lass.
So much love,

E____"

The German word "Weltanschauung" comes to mind after reading these words. "Weltanschauung" is German for worldview, for conception of the universe and human life. The worldview of this young woman is not only very moving and inspiring but very much in keeping with Waldorf philosophy, a philosophy that gently invites us to keep our appointments with beauty, to keep our appointments with wonder, even amidst the slings and arrows of our shared earthly fate. As poet Rilke puts it, "To praise, that's it!" For the sake of our children may we strive to honor the worldview of this young woman and Waldorf education.

Here at WSSB it's easy to keep our appointment with wonder and beauty. Just this morning in assembly, for example, the 7th Grade, under the tutelage of Ms. Caverly, shared a Zulu folk song of extraordinary delicacy. The song and their rendition of it filled us all up. We are blessed.

In gratitude,
The WSSB Admin Team

PS The poem of the day is by the great Thich Nhat Hanh who died last month:

This body is not me.
I am not limited by this body.
I am life without boundaries.
I have never been born,
and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,
manifestations from my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.
Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,
sacred thresholds on our journey.
Birth and death are a game of hide-and-seek.

So laugh with me,
hold my hand,
let us say good-bye,
say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.