We Can't Teach It If We Don't Live It.

Originally posted December 29, 2014

Last night I lay in bed next to my tired husband and clicked 'play' on this TED talk by Bryan Stevenson.  I read about it in one of the books my husband brought home a few weeks ago, Talk Like TED.  I'm devouring the clear writing, and every-sentence-validation I feel when I read things like, "...it's also a mistake to believe that you can influence and inspire others by speaking about a topic that you don't love - that is not core to your identity."  I want my words to matter, and so it's foolish to dilute them; the more I water down what I believe, the less potent those beliefs become.

I thought about all of this as I watched Bryan Stevenson speak.  Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which fights poverty and challenges racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.  He's a clear speaker, at ease on stage and full of humble confidence.  Stevenson's TED talk received the longest standing ovation in TED history.  The theme he touched on that settled most certainly in my middle was this: we have to talk about the things that make us uncomfortable.  He relates this idea to facing injustice in our criminal justice system.  

After the video stopped, my face flushed as I remembered what I believe most deeply: we can not teach emotional health if we don't first live emotional health.

I scurried out of bed, threw a sweater on, and went downstairs to talk to you.

We're getting closer and closer to our collective thesis, to the meat and heart and crux of what we're doing here.

We're getting closer, Loves.

*E