The Interpreted Rock

By Stephen C. Schultz Some of the best lessons about kindness don't come from books, classrooms, or carefully planned conversations. They come from ordinary moments when we happen to notice someone else. Over the years, I have written about several of those moments. Looking back at them now, I realize they all share something in common. They remind me that kindness rarely requires extraordinary circumstances. More often, it begins with simply paying attention. A few years ago, I wrote about Finding Meaning in the Mundane . It started with something as ordinary as shoveling snow. I was outside clearing the sidewalk when I noticed two mule deer moving quietly through the snow and into my backyard. It was one of those small moments that could easily be missed, but it reminded me that life is filled with things worth noticing if we are willing to slow down long enough to see them. That same idea applies to people. In another post, Connecting Generations...It's Not About Technology ...

By Stephen C. Schultz There is something about August that always makes me reflective. Backpacks begin appearing in stores. Teachers begin preparing their classrooms. Parents start talking about bedtimes again. Kids wonder who will be in their class, whether they'll make new friends, and if they'll recognize anyone when they walk through the school doors that first morning. Before every school year begins, I find myself thinking about another kind of classroom. The early morning dew dripped from the branches of the Douglas fir trees all around me. Ferns and waist-high brush soaked my pants from the knees down with every step. My head bobbed up and down in a steady rhythm, not because of music, but because I was trying to survive. I looked down to make sure my footing was secure and then back up to keep my fishing pole from snagging in the branches overhead. It was quite the process for an eight-year-old making his way through the underbrush of the temperate rainforest we respec...