a vision shines forth

Ariel’s Way: of Jim, of Don

I am intrigued by how a person can create,
as a vision of what can be
drives through voice, hand, & movement,
and a wholeness is expressed,








that which was vague clears,
that which was possibility releases,
that which did not exist exists,
and the vision shines forth,
for me the drive to order, to build, to express
feels as that of God in us
which seeks to harmonize with a rightness
inherent at the deepest depths,

today I enjoy actors acting, dancers dancing, singers singing,
musicians playing, technicians implementing,
each releases a best that is personal,
and each connects to build a larger & larger whole:
the show is fabulous and pulls us all into its magic,

I am in awe of the playwright



who dreamed a dream of what could be
and worked hour upon hour, month upon month, year upon year,
until the vehicle was ready for so many to climb aboard
and give the play its run,
a run that could take so many of us along with it
and help us find the best in ourselves
as we feel the truth released in its words, its music,
the wholeness of its creation,

I also am in awe of the greatness of the school’s principal
who originally hired the playwright,












who takes a school born but uncertain of who it is
and how it can become the best it can be,
who protects it from parents who are too sure they know best,
from the state which can be too sure that it knows best,
from any of us on the staff who do not get the calling
that holds us to seeing that of God and not of ourselves in our students,
and today that former head of Friends School sits center in the audience
and experiences the glory created by the playwright
and all drawn to the vehicle of his vision,
all of this created within the larger vehicle of a school
devoted to the wholeness within everyone,
all of us at C.F.S. should celebrate the great gifts
that this early principal gave us in the school itself,
a work in progress but a work that might not even be here
without his vision of what can be
and his effort and skill in bringing us forth.

Thank you, Jim, and
Thank you, Don.

by Henry Walker
January 3, ’10