one lens with which to see ourselves

 

to act upon the world?

when we are born,

we differentiate toward self,

no longer in the Great Sea,

our skin touches the cooler air,

and the shock can wake us up,

I remember holding my grandson

when he first seemed to realize

that his feet were also him

and that he had control over them,

acting upon the world with foot and hand

allows us to know ourselves in relationship to things,

and then in relationship to each other,

knocking down blocks and discovering how to stack them,

hugging a parent and a stuffed animal,

walking, then running, across a room, a field,

we discover games, early on "Peek-a-Boo"

where we move with joy from absence to presence,

a ball intrigues us,

and we build relationship with it, through it,

in sports we can discover ourselves

as we act upon the world,

and it feeds consequence back to us,

when we strive together

our bodies become more skilled in acting upon the world

and learning how to act together with our team,

and in competition with others striving to do their best,

our heart and lungs glory in being used,

and then our body can allow our spirit also to grow stronger,

any time we excel in effort, 

we can work to excel in result,

the very effort validates us

as being worth the breaths we take,

and the results can help us 

appreciate who we are even more,

much of life is about coming home to who we are,

the person we've always known ourselves to be,

despite how lost we can feel

in the trackless wood that too often seems to swallow us,

sports can be one way for us to realize

that we are truly of worth

and that we can be part of a larger whole,

that is both us as we are

and us as we can be

if opportunity and effort come together

into moments that reveal to us 

who we are, and it is good.

by Henry H. Walker

June 9, ‘24