2/23/2017 More Than They AppearI outgrew cartoons a long time ago, or so I thought. Then one of my friends wanted to see Sing. No one else wanted to go, and it was her birthday, so I said, “Sure; why not?” and made up my mind to enjoy it. And I did. There was, of course, a lot of singing—done by fine voices in many interesting styles. Done by two pigs, a gorilla, a mouse, a porcupine, and an elephant. They were not exactly “people” I would have expected to have the talent, the soul.
Which led me to reflect on other life lessons. A parable about a baby more interested in the wrapping and the box than in the present inside. A C.S. Lewis image of a stable bigger on the inside than on the outside. Oh, yes, and the Girl Scout leader who taught me to knit, the one who had only one hand. The hunchbacked woman with an apartment and a heart big enough for troubled teenagers and desperate families. In fact, I can think of many people who (as I discovered when I got to know them well), are so much more than they first appeared to be. Some of these people come to the Brunner Literacy Center. Some of them may seem to be pigs, or gorillas, or mice. They may appear to be prickly as porcupines or ungainly as elephants. Inside, most of them abound in courage, determination, humility, good humor, or the desire to make something of themselves. We who are tutors, we who sit and listen, are privileged to hear their beautiful voices.
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