the secret of CFS

 

Presence

I re-met a lower school student,

daughter of the CFS Admissions Director,

and her seven-year-old sureness of self overwhelmed me

with what I called her "stage presence,"

her mother corrected that it was purely just her presence, her power,

which grounds her in who she is, what she likes,

into a sureness to interacting with others, with being herself,

that is the magic trick at the heart of CFS:

an openness to, and encouragement of,

the self within everyone,

the more "one of a kind" the better,

for the unique is a treasure,

then the trick morphs into building the eclectic whole into community,

where difference is treasured, and somehow the pieces fit together,

each unique self building a vibrant whole

that holds all of us as of worth,

that our differences still let us connect

because of the commonality of our hearts,

where that of God shines forth,

and connects with that of God in the other.

by Henry H. Walker

July 25, ‘25