A Game of See Saw

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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The greatest defense is being who you are. – Mark Nepo

We live in an abundant world. We have the capacity to feed all people. We have the ability to cure many diseases: and for the cures that don’t exist, we have the ingenuity and knowledge to get there, too. We have the technology to turn around our climate crisis. We have hearts that can seek peace not war. All this I know for sure when I peel back the layers of superficial “agreement” based the preservation of the power of a few, or deeply rooted religiosity that preaches individual salvation rather than communal good and love, or the short-sighted notion that current success can be won at the expense of generations. Being who we are, and living in connection with one another, is the essential test for us all.

The game of see-saw suggests that the more we become who we are – down deep without wavering back-and-forth in darkness – the more meaning we find, and the greater positive impact we have on our world. The more we rise above comparison and competition, judgement and scarcity mentality, gossip and bigotry and hate, the better off our world is. The game of see-saw is about keeping our word, having honest ethical boundaries, and acting from a loving place. Living our ideals, imagining dreams, and achieving goals for ourselves and our world begins with the fluid and perpetual decisions we make as the see-saw of our days lifts and lowers. Our manageable and small matter choices matter. Our daily choices matter. In the face of despair: our daily choices matter. In the face of cynicism: our daily choices matter. In the face cliffs, and boulders, and punches: our daily choices matter. In the face of separation and fear: our daily choices matter. Our time is fleeting: our daily choices matter.

https://kitt.global/may-14-a-game-of-see-saw-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/