I was helping a fellow calligrapher understand how to work with a new paper resource. We got out the pens and I showed her what the paper could do. I then sat back at my studio table and remembered when I was newer to this calligraphy thing and had so many questions and not much experience. I understood her anxiety and hesitancy in learning a new resource. I found these words form Anna Quindlen, than remind us that to remember is to understand.
The person who has lived in their house twenty-two years who can remember being a first time home buyer. The person getting ready to retire remembering their first day of work in their corporate job. The couple celebrating thirty years of marriage remembering what it was like to be engaged. When we remember our life’s milestones, we can better relate to and understand others following along that same path. Sometimes youth and first timers seem so gangly and outrageous, until we remember when we were young, gangly and outrageous.
Let me encourage you to remember in order to understand. When we get too busy, too comfortable, too settled and maybe even a bit too experienced, we forget what it was like to NOT have any of what we have now. Hard work pays off, consistency, commitment and even loyalty, all those things help us remember when we needed grace to be understood. When your temper flares or someone does something stupid, remember when you did those things as well and you will then be better able to understand.
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