This week’s post starts by quoting something the great Tom Hanks who once said:
“A hero is somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown.”
All of us have “unknowns” in our lives that can be particularly frightening or uncomfortable to face- the new job/school, moving into a new neighborhood, raising a child for the first time, meeting a new person. A few of our speakers are doing things in their own lives that show how they face the unknown in very different ways and we thought you might find comfort in the fact that you’re (we’re) not alone.
1. Dr. Charles Johnson‘s new book, Taming the Ox: Buddhist Stories and Reflections on Politics, Race, Culture, and Spiritual Practice explores how spirituality has powerful potential in almost all sphere of American life. One especially interesting Chapter is titled “Why Buddhism for Black America Now?”–what Buddhism can offer the African-American community in the post-MLK era. Johnson faces the unknown-higher power(s)- with creativity and pragmatism. He wonders how further reflection on the unknown can bring about inner peace for his fellow citizens.
2. In a recent radio show, Dr. Ainissa Ramirez describes her original fascination with science saying,
“The first class, this professor just knocked my socks off. He said, ‘Everything that you understand has to do with the interaction of atoms…’ So something that I cannot see completely changes my environment. And if you understand how atoms interact, then you can change those properties…That’s where material sciences and I found each other”
Dr. Ramirez clearly has a different take that Mr. Johnson on the unknown. This woman takes it head on to make it known and is loving it.
3. Last, we read a bl
og post written by Kate Clinton that expresses her thoughts and feelings about “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” Ms. Clinton shares with us that she is in that place where we all find ourselves: frustration with the unknown. Having a partner who had Breast Cancer, Kate explains that she’s fed up with the pink ribbons she sees everywhere every year. While she has deep respect for all of the people who work to raise awareness and search for a cure, she’s had enough with the calm, pink approach to relating to cancer. Bring on the punk, she says. Sometimes, the unknown raises emotions and sometimes you’ve just got to let it out.