Stop and enjoy the day, the moment, the minute

Everybody is tired at work. We have new report cards, new math targets, a new evaluation system that has us writing smart goals, and we are providing ESL services in a new way. Everyone’s plate is very full.  It makes me want to shout some Wordsworth from the rooftops.

The World is Too Much With Us

by William Wordsworth

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

If Wordsworth isn’t your style, I suggest reading The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Dušan Petričić.

This book is based on the true story of Joshua Bell, the American violinist,  who played  anonymously in the Washington D.C. subway on January 12, 2007. More than a thousand commuters rushed by him, but only seven stopped to listen for more than a minute.  Every time a child passed, he or she tried to stop, but the adult they were with pulled them along. In The Man with the Violin, bestselling author Kathy Stinson has woven a heart-warming story that reminds us all to stop and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.

Dylan is someone who notices things. His mom is someone who doesn’t. So try as he might, Dylan can’t get his mom to listen to the man playing the violin in the subway station. But Dylan is swept away by the soaring and swooping notes that fill the air as crowds of oblivious people rush by. With the beautiful music in his head all day long, Dylan can’t forget the violinist, and finally succeeds in making his mother stop and listen, too.

So take a little time today to be still today and enjoy something beautiful, just for beauty’s sake.