Last week, I attended a celebration centered on spoken word poetry performances. The performers, self-described juvenile delinquents, were residents of Lakeside Academy, a youth treatment center focused on confronting and redirecting negative behavior while encouraging positive behavior.
Each young person walked to the center of the stage, alone, and began by giving a grateful shout-out to friends, teachers, and supporters. Then, after introducing the piece, he performed his poem – sharing a chapter of his story within an artistic frame.
It was raw, authentic, and hummed with transformational energy.
These were adults in youth clothing, forced to grow up much too soon. Having been guided and mentored by those who had walked their own troubled paths, these youth were finding their voice, their inner light, their true self.
In his book, A Lamp in the Darkness, Jack Kornfield says:
Although we sometimes lose touch with it, we each have
deep within us a lamp of wisdom, and a powerful spirit of
compassion and conscience and understanding that we can draw upon.
As each youth finished, she said, “Thank you,” and glanced off-stage to see her teacher encourage her to not run off but stay center stage. Turning back to the crowd, she received thunderous applause and ecstatic screams. She beamed…standing there, taking it all in.
After years of being beaten down and closing up, she risked being vulnerable and received nothing less than unconditional love.
These so-called delinquents embodied a vital lesson: one doorway to forgiveness involves reframing the perpetrator’s story. By changing our assumed understanding of someone’s motivations or intentions, we see their actions in a new light and our response changes.
We soon come to know that those who offend act out of their own suffering and pain.
Quote
You can’t hate someone whose story you know. Multiple attributions
Web
The artistic drive and transformational vision of this event comes from Kinetic Affect. Enjoy this brief look at Kinetic Affect and hear what others have to say (watch now)
It was raw, authentic, and hummed with transformational energy.
These were adults in youth clothing, forced to grow up much too soon. Having been guided and mentored by those who had walked their own troubled paths, these youth were finding their voice, their inner light, their true self.
In his book, A Lamp in the Darkness, Jack Kornfield says:
Although we sometimes lose touch with it, we each have
deep within us a lamp of wisdom, and a powerful spirit of
compassion and conscience and understanding that we can draw upon.
As each youth finished, she said, “Thank you,” and glanced off-stage to see her teacher encourage her to not run off but stay center stage. Turning back to the crowd, she received thunderous applause and ecstatic screams. She beamed…standing there, taking it all in.
After years of being beaten down and closing up, she risked being vulnerable and received nothing less than unconditional love.
These so-called delinquents embodied a vital lesson: one doorway to forgiveness involves reframing the perpetrator’s story. By changing our assumed understanding of someone’s motivations or intentions, we see their actions in a new light and our response changes.
We soon come to know that those who offend act out of their own suffering and pain.
Quote
You can’t hate someone whose story you know. Multiple attributions
Web
The artistic drive and transformational vision of this event comes from Kinetic Affect. Enjoy this brief look at Kinetic Affect and hear what others have to say (watch now)
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