Look at me!

​Look at me!
 
All of us it seems
 
If indeed we had a childhood
 
A childhood not stolen by war, alcoholism,
 
mental illness or some other dis ease
 
had moments of “Look at me.”
 
“Look at me, I can lift my head, make noise,
 
create bubbles.
 
Look at me.”
 
“Look at ME!
 
See my success.
 
My new car, big house,
 
bulging muscles
 
designer gowns
 
degrees,
bombs
 
political rhetoric
 
new symphonies
 
my very own art show
 
a book
 
my own show
 
Look at me.
 
I am
 
I am SOMEBODY.
 
Look at me.
 
My gun is my voice.”
 
David Isay, founder of StoryCorps
 
Says “Listening is an act of love.”
 
 “The soul is contained in the
 
Voice.” 
Can my voice be heard from my fingers  or my feet
 
and not just a throat.
 
You see, not all of us have a voice which can
 
form words which travel up the throat and
 
through our mouths.
 
Krista Tippett reminds us
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his book,
 
“Life Together”
 
“The first service that one owes to others in
 
the fellowship consists of listening to them.”
 
What was Hitler saying to this man in prison?
 
“Listen to me?  I am somebody.   No mater
 
what my father said.” 
 
LISTEN
 
TO
ME
 
Did Dr. Alice Miller listen to Adolf?
 
Really listen?
 
Mother Theresa is reported to have
 
said to Dan Rather in response to , “What do
 
you say to God?”,
 
“I listen.”
 
Rather asks,  “What does God say back to you?”
 
She says,  “He listens.”
 
If God is love and love is listening then
 
we must listen beneath the words to the heart
 
which often cries.
 
We must listen beneath the words.
 
Does my listening say, “You have touched my
 
heart. 
You exist.
 
We exist.
 
There is love
 
We are love.
 
God is love.
 
He listens.
 
 
Written May 14, 2016 after listening to the replay of Krista Tippett’s April 17, 2014 interview with David Isay, founder of Storcorps. I also attended and, hopefully listened to a talk by the noted theologian Matthew Fox on May 13, 2016