Saturday! And time to celebrate heroes in our midst.
In the aftermath of Sandy, New Yorkers and millions of others along the eastern coast continue to dig out from Sandy’s wreckage. Some continue to be without electricity. Some struggle to get gas. To buy groceries. To rebuild. And through it all, brave acts are performed. Neighbours connect. Lisa Rosenberg writes on her blog, Rising from the Depths in the name of Bipartisanship, “We’re all managing to stay in touch somehow, finding friends in corners of town with power, who invite us to a “charging-up” get together: bring your devices, a load of laundry: enjoy a cup of hot coffee, a few hours of heat.” The New York marathon is cancelled. Rebuilding continues.
Lisa and her neighbours and everyone who is continuing to dig out from the storm are all heroes.
This morning, reading Elizabeth’s post, My Values #3 Dependable, at Almost Spring, I was inspired by her words of wisdom, truth and beauty. Elizabeth writes of what makes the value of being ‘dependable’ so important, and how she expresses it everyday — very inspiring!
Elizabeth is a hero.
Yesterday, as Ellie the wonder pooch and I walked along the path, we caught up to a woman whose walk consisted of moving a few feet forward, stopping, looking up, binoculars pressed tightly against her eyes. When we approached, she dropped the binoculars and smiled. “What do you see?” I asked. “I see Pine Grosbeaks feeding on the pinecones,” she replied. I looked up into the snow laden boughs of the pine tree and was in awe of what I had not seen before. “And I see beauty everywhere,” she said raising the binoculars to her eyes once again as Ellie and I walked away, albeit, more slowly now to give us time to savour the beauty everywhere.
That woman is a hero. She reminded me of the beauty all around. To stop. Slow down. And simply savour the world around me.
And, one final retrospective hero accolade. When I visited Elizabeth’s blog this morning, she used a quote from Ben E. King’s 1961 hit, Stand By Me. Except, it was attributed to John Lennon. I went online and sure enough, there are many instances where the lyrics to Stand By Me are attributed to John Lennon. And I know they’re not. In 2009, I worked with a group of client musicians at the shelter where I used to work and recorded Stand by Me. Area musicians came in and volunteered their time and talent. Lanny Williams from The Beach Advanced Audio donated studio time and staff to cut the final recording and Lewis Levin of LL Video volunteered his time to create the video. It was an amazing project. Surrounded by such giving and talented people made a difference.
So… as my Saturday sharing, I share the recording here. Everyone involved in that project was a hero. Clients, staff, volunteers, musicians, everyone. Heroes all.
Dare Boldly 
So much to notice … always. Thanks for sharing your wonder with us.
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Thanks Carolyn — it was one of those magical projects that made my heart sing! 🙂
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Hi Louise. I love reading your blog, and this is yet another great post. Thanks also for referrig the other blogs you have mentioned, which I intend to check out soon. By the way, that’s a great rendition on Stand By Me. 🙂
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I love people who stop and notice the birds.
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Me too Megan! 🙂
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Another amazing post………….
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Awesome post, amazingly powerful rendition of the song. Thank you, once again, for sharing all that is good about life to remind us!
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Thank you Josie — I loved working on that project. It made such a difference in everyone’s life!
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Louise, thank you for including my post in this tribute to heroes. And that song! So appropriate right about now. I have always loved it. Thanks for the reminder. Hope all is well with you. 🙂
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And I hope all is well with you Lisa — and that you have power once again. Glad the song brought some lightness to your world!
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That video was an amazing project with the DI. Clients sang in it as well, right?
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We purposefully didn’t differentiate between clients and non-clients — and yes, several of the musicians were clients. 🙂
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Hello. I feel so humbled that you thought my post worthy of a link from your post. I have now correctly attributed this song to Ben E King. fantastic rendition here. Have played it several times. It makes you want to get up and do something positive! Thanks so much, you have made my day 🙂
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I loved your blog this morning Elizabeth — made my heart sing! 🙂
And I’m so glad you liked the video. It really was a remarkable project to work on!
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Hi there. thought i would let you know that I have played your video clip over and over. It is So inspiring. And I have looked and looked and I cannot pick the difference between professional singers / musicians, volunteers and clients in the video. They are all one and the same. Together. Thanks again!
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Oh Elizabeth! Thank you! that’s exactly why we didn’t identify people as being a client, or note. When I used to speak at schools about homelessness, I’d show that video and ask them to watch carefully to see ‘who is homeless’. they’d watch and at the end say, so and so or so and so, and I’d ask, does it matter? Exactly as you said — they are all the same. They are all sharing their gifts to create something of wonder. And that’s when they got it! Thank you Elizabeth!
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