Handle with care
Even as the prison gates have opened, we’ve continued our Covid-forced correspondence program between the Donovan residents and outside volunteers. It serves the folks inside, particularly those for whom writing is easier than speaking. It serves the volunteers responding to these letters who, for many, cannot come inside Donovan.
The other day, we received a resident’s letter. In the bottom right corner of the large manilla enveloped were written three simple words: “Handle with care”.
Many packages carry these three words, written to ensure the contents aren’t torn, crumpled, bent or broken in any way.
I felt these three words went deeper than simply caring for the pieces of paper in the envelope. The pages of this letter were covered with words, which communicated this person’s experiences, perceptions, interpretations, emotions, thoughts, ideas, insights and beliefs. Can we “handle with care” these?
It's deeper still. These thoughts, perceptions and beliefs reveal this writer’s identity, his values, his spirit, the essence of his being – yes, his courageous journey into his brilliance. Can we “handle with care” this depth?
Unfortunately, in their childhood and prison environments, these are most often not “handled with care.” Their persons are dehumanized; their belongings are trampled on and broken; their emotions are shamed; their thoughts and ideas are condemned and demeaned.
(And look where that led them…)
In our exchanges with the Donovan folks, we do our best to “handle with care” each person, each moment, each interaction, each expression, each emotion…
We hold the letters’ pages like a delicate flower blooming.
We read its content with openness and nonjudgment.
We hold what the words contain with reverence and respect.
We receive the insights with celebration.
We acknowledge that any anger or resentment is actually past hurt being retriggered.
We remain curious and open to ideas with which we don’t agree.
We feel the power of this person’s realness and authenticity as he reveals his innermost thoughts and perceptions.
We reply with sacredness for the whole of their being: the light and the dark, the growth and the stagnation, the awareness and the blindness...
Like every month, I invite you to explore for yourself:
What do you “handle with care”?
Where can you invite yourself into deeper care of your own inner realities and person? Of others’ inner realities and persons?
It’s challenging enough to hold our kids’ and loved ones’ words with openness and nonjudgment, to honor the sacredness of their spirit. Now, how about doing it for your colleagues? Holding their ideas and suggestions with the same sacredness, as these are the external expressions of their brilliance and essence. And now, how about for the person who wronged you?
Oh, the journey of growth available to each of us… “Handle with care” all of yourself as you move through this journey.