The Amazing Human Spirit

Recently, I wrote a post about "My Amazing Machine," a look at how remarkable our human bodies are.  (3/30/14)  Almost as quickly as I published that post, I had the thought, "What about your amazing spirit?" Hmm.  I wrote a note that has been on my desk for two weeks: My Amazing Spirit. Well, what about it?

First of all, my spirit isn't the only one that is amazing.  One of the remarkable things about us as human beings is the human spirit.  I've written a lot about intention, listening to our hearts, and aspiring to do what we know is right in our hearts.  When we have the spark of something in us, we seem to be driven to do it.  A few months ago, I wrote about Olympic gold medallist Gaby Douglas, who was vaulting across her front yard as a pre-schooler.  I recall seeing a movie about jazz singer Billie Holiday; she was singing with jazz records as a tween. If we listen, the "code" is within us, as much as our DNA.

Writing has been in me since I could hold a pencil.  I have a knot on the side of my middle finger that I can remember forming probably by junior high school.  I can't imagine what it would look like if computers hadn't come along 25 years ago. Well, maybe I could.  My grandmother had the writer gene and had a knot on her middle finger that got gnarly as she grew older, suggesting there was something interesting to learn from this 92-year-old woman. 

Our ability to experience wonder sets the human spirit apart among species.  Whether when I walked on errands this afternoon amidst all the beautiful flowering trees, perfuming the air with their fragrance, watched the first sprout of a tulip breaking through the soil this week, or upon waking this morning noticed  that bright spring green begin to show on budding trees behind my apartment, our ability the gasp in wonder is emblematic of the human spirit.

We also have an incredible capacity to feel connection.  Sometimes I feel connected to a friend half a world away, remembering times spent together.  Other times, I feel connected to those I don't even know, like this evening when I watched an interview with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, as he shared the plight of those impacted by war in several African locations.  On truly remarkable days, I feel connected to all that is--God, nature, humanity: I can feel a ribbon of love that moves through all of us.

Closely related to connection is our ability to experience community.  Community may be experienced in our families, churches or synagogues, schools, or neighbourhoods.  Even our workplaces can allow us to feel the connection of common purpose.  I've worked in newspapers, hospitals, and now a space agency, and in each there was the experience of pulling together to do something important.

Over the last several weeks, as the collegiate basketball season wrapped up in the United States, we had the opportunity to observe that sense of community that is team many times.

I am sure there are many ways in which our spirits are amazing, but I am often astounded at the resilience of the human spirit.  I literally lost everything and somehow found the will to bounce back.  I have had a couple of significant health challenges, but through will, and with the help of capable medical professionals, I fought my way back. 

This evening I watched "The Book Thief," a remarkable story of a young woman in Nazi Germany, who lost two families--her biological one and then the one into which she'd been adopted, her closest friend, and her home.  Literally out of the ashes she found her way to a fulfilling life.

I have reflected many times about former U. S. President Jimmy Carter, who suffered the worst defeat of any sitting president and resurrected himself to be author, humanitarian, Nobel Prize winner, and human rights advocate.  The past 40 years of remarkable world service have been the result of his resilience in the face of that defeat.

So my "still small voice" within me that whispered, "What about your amazing spirit?" was right.  The human spirit is pretty remarkable. Now that I think of it, I'll bet part of what is written on the back side of our hearts is how to be human, and, if we listen closely, how to fully experiencing the wonder of the human spirit.