Everywhere

Every day, on the way to Hope, I pass the swans who live in a retention pond by the road. And every day, there is a crowd of people gathered there, sometimes couples out for a morning walk, most often drivers who have pulled over on the shoulder and some with very fancy cameras. If you doubt the popularity of the swans, all you need to do is look at the grass that has ...worn away to mud from all the cars that have parked there.

The swans are beautiful. That is not in debate, but I am surprised at the consistent crowd that is there every day watching them. It's as if they've never seen something beautiful before. I remember as an eighth grade teacher being surprised by the number of my students who had never read a book before. So perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that so many people are starving, hungry for something beautiful and real and natural in this world.

Feel free to pull over for swans, but also remember that in the same way that my students needed to realize that reading was not just something you did in school, we all need to realize that finding something beautiful, finding something jaw dropping, finding something to be in awe of is not something as rare as a pair of swans on the side of the road.

It's everywhere.