March 08, 2025

Quote of the Week

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow humans (and non-humans!)." -- Herman Melville

Poem #63, Gitanjali

— By Rabindranath Tagore 

Thou hast made me known to friends whom I knew not. 
Thou hast given me seats in homes not my own. 
Thou hast brought the distant near
and made a brother of the stranger.    

I am uneasy at heart 
when I have to leave my accustomed shelter; 
I forget that there abides the old in the new, 
and that there also thou abidest.

Through birth and death, in this world or in others, 
wherever thou leadest me it is thou, 
the same, the one companion of my endless life 
who ever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar.

When one knows thee, 
then alien there is none, 
then no door is shut. 

Oh, grant me my prayer
that I may never lose the bliss of the touch
of the one in the play of the many.

--
We invite you to get together, as parents or with grown children, and go over this poem. Think of it as a leaflet from the proto-intelligence of Rabindranath Tagore, a dear friend of Gandhi and an exceptional artist and thinker, from his anthology of poems called Gitanjali. This poem foregrounds the spirit of neither-you, nor-me but that which carries all of us. Yet more, the poem reminds us that we each are made of the same building blocks, regardless of the roles we play in this phenomenal world (what Carl Sagan called Star-dust, remember?). We are inspired by this poem and even more so in the fast-paced, stranger-danger cultural ethos that we typically operate on. Our hope is that we can cultivate a different, trusting and balanced take on relating with strangers, unfamiliar situations and places. 
 

Reading Corner

Name: The Gift of Nothing
Authors: Patrick McDonnell
Ages: 4-8

"Meet Mooch, who wants desperately to give his best friend a gift. But, what do you give someone who has everything? I love Mooch’s generous heart, but more than that, I love what he learns about giving gifts — sometimes, the gift of friendship is all that you need to give to someone special!..." (Sourced from here)

Be the Change

Consider opening meal times to strangers. Next time you head out to grab a bite at a restaurant, look around three times before stepping in for anyone who could use a warm meal. If at home, go outside with children before sitting down to eat and see if there is anyone hungry, and if so, offer them food. Birds, squirrels or other creatures in your locality also count when sharing food! The essence of this practice finds its traces in the (ancient) vedic teachings, and remained a fairly common ritual in India as recently as a several decades ago; specifically, the youngest member of the family would be asked to go outside to call out thrice, "anyone hungry here?" and invite respondents in for a meal -- to let kinship emerge with a stranger.