is back. What was the last most beautiful thing that you experienced? I was just reading back through old diaries I'd written, and was reminded of how despairingly godawful I often felt during the W years. So that was pretty beautiful. And it was beautiful to read all these old comments and discussions and battles, and remember how awesome the DK community can be. But also, how annoying. But my last most beautiful thing is after the jump.
On Friday, I helped with a tree planting at a school in Southeast DC - it's a project I've been helping with for years now. It's slow work, because we're working with minimal funding, but we have some great allies, and the school is very supportive.
Doing plantings with kids is always chaotic. They get really excited about being outside, and digging, and dirt and worms, and it's a challenge to keep things going smoothly. We could work much more efficiently without the kids, but of course that's not the point.
So once the waves of kids had passed, and we were wrapping up, putting in the last trees and cleaning up, one girl stayed with us - Lashaun. She helped me dig in a few trees, worked quietly and well, called out once when I was about to accidentally crush a worm. That's when I knew Lashaun really cared about what we were doing.
Afterwards, I started playfully arguing about a bucket with the rest of the team - whose it was, whose fault it was that it was dirty, and who should clean it. It was just standard banter, until Lashaun, who'd been listening, spoke up and said, "Fighting never solves anything!" and started cleaning the bucket herself. I loved it that she was so bold as to call 4 adults out on their bad behavior, and so committed to our community as to step up and fix the problem herself.
We gave her a milkweed plant, to plant in her backyard. She took it as a serious gift. We thanked her for her work and told her she's welcome to work with us anytime. We plant a lot of trees with a lot of kids, but I've honestly never seen one so inspired and committed. One is enough.
So what was your last most beautiful thing?