Finding Comfort In the Why
This weekend was a wild one in our town. There was a community celebration where thousands of people come here (like they do every year) to celebrate the Fourth of July with a parade, pancake breakfast, seafood festival, fireworks, photos with Santa, high school fundraisers, hospital fundraisers, music, arts and crafts, kids painting.
The list goes on and on.
The thing is that our island is only 10,000 or so year-round residents. Our town is just 5,000.
All those events require so much work, volunteers and staff and donations create this big beautiful celebration.
Simon Simek (an author/thinker who has done quite well for himself) says, “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.”
And that’s the other thing, too, right?
When you live in a relatively small community and you have a hyper-local, digital newspaper, your community members are people you want to take care of. You want to put their needs first. You want them to trust you and feel safe with you, right? Sometimes, however, the needs don’t synch up and that creates tension.
We are usually asked to do stories by people who are scared or worried or confused or who know that the wrong information is getting out there. We know people will be annoyed at us about those stories sometimes. We still have to do them.
Or, if we try to post photos from each group in our parade and some of those groups are making political statements, people get incredibly mad at us for posting those.
But we still have to post them because to not post them would be erasure. I don’t want to be a part of that.
This obviously doesn’t just apply to journalism. It applies to everything in life.
Life is about taking care of the people in your charge.
It’s about holding the door open. It’s about giving hugs. It’s about writing notes to lift up rather than just social media comments to double down or assert that your way is the only way of looking at something. But it’s also about asking how you can help them to get to the best self they want to be and how you can be the best self you can be in order to do that.
So, here is a soup recipe and poem for you all today.
I hope you feel strong. I hope you feel good. I hope you lean into your why.
THE SOUP
This is a Finnish Summer Soup over on AllRecipes, which I kind of think is a sweet site because it’s so crowd sourced, you know? It’s sort of just wholesome that way.
THE POEM
I Hear America Singing
By Walt Whitman
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
Copyright Credit: Walt Whitman, “I Hear America Singing” from Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass: The Complete 1855 and 1891-92 Editions. New York: First Library of America Paperback Classic Edition, 1982, 2011.
Source: Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass: The Complete 1855 and 1891-92 Editions (First Library of America Paperback Classic Edition, 2011)
Via American Poetry Foundation.
QUICK NOTE
Thank you for being here with me. All the content is free, obviously. It happens every two weeks or so. It’s sort of just a Substack about me trying to find comfort or coziness or something that I’m longing for. And hanging out with you.
I’m always thankful for help buying dog treats.
Write Better Now and Living Happy are likely much more helpful places if you’re into that. I usually post 1-2 Living Happy posts a week and 1-2 Write Better Now posts. I’d love it if you joined with me there, too, but obviously, no pressure.