Legit Parenting
Legit Parenting
Things of Beauty Make Me Cry. A Collection
In a World of Noise, Beauty Still Speaks
"The universe provides us lures to beauty... if we pause long enough to notice."
When was the last time something moved you to tears? Not from sadness, but from experiencing the pure, unexpected beauty we are surrounded by?
Raised in Missouri, I saw my sensitivity as a weakness. Embarrassed by a deep empathy and tears that came easily. But when my mother whispered, "Etch this in your memory," during moments of beauty, I later discovered she was teaching me to treasure what others often miss.
"Things of Beauty Make Me Cry" is an invitation and a collection of stories from the Legit Parenting Podcast. I share the moments that have pierced through my armor while also exploring the paradoxes that make beauty so powerful: how it emerges from vulnerability, transcends tragedy, and hides in plain sight, among others.
Trust has reached historic lows in our modern world; these stories remind us that beauty exists alongside our deepest pain. The invitation is transformative yet straightforward: slow down and seek beauty daily.
Carry these moments with you. Let them remind you to see the beauty in being human.
Dear listener, welcome to the first episode of what will be a series entitled the Best of Things of Beauty Make Me Cry. If you follow Legit Parenting, you'll know that I end every episode with a story about the beauty that surrounds us. The ideology of these stories comes from my childhood sensitivity, sad things, joyous events, resiliency and just plain old beauty always made me cry, from all ages and all walks of life, especially children and families. Sadly, as a boy growing up in Missouri, I didn't see being sensitive as a positive trait. I saw it more as an emotional weakness. I wanted to be tough, like the other boys were. My mom didn't need to say how would you feel if that happened to you? It was hardwired into me as natural as breathing. They are around us.
Speaker 1:Later in grad school I added some philosophy to my genetic tendencies. I stumbled upon a class philosophy class on Albert North Whitehead, a philosopher in the 1880s at Harvard who invented or discovered what he called process philosophy. To summarize it basically, the goal is to live in the moment. Now, in every moment, you pause before you make your next decision and you first look backwards and figure out how did I get here, think about the choices you made in the past and what led you to where you are now. Then, before jumping into the future, that we often do is to analyze all the choices in front of you, all the things you could do in that moment. And Whitehead believed, if you analyze those, that the universe provided us lures to beauty like a fishing lure and to find the choice in your future that would bring peace and harmony and beauty into the universe. Now, albert didn't believe in God, but you can apply any religion to it. If that is your choice, it could be the Buddha. What would Buddha tell you? Muhammad, yahweh for Hebrews or Jesus for Christians?
Speaker 1:My first blending of my nature and my new philosophy happened a short time later. I was running late for a church history exam and it was a brutal course, and I was already fifteen minutes late. As I barreled my sixty-nine Buick down a two-lane road when, all of a sudden, at a small intersection, the light turned red. When all of a sudden, at a small intersection, the light turned red, I stopped, but in me was the urge to blow the light, so I wouldn't be even later, thankfully. Before stepping on the gas, I happened to look to my left and I saw two young girls walking across the sidewalk on their way to school. They were in the walk zone, but the older one, who was maybe 10 or 11, must have noticed the look in my eyes and I saw her reach down to the younger girl, who was probably five, and they joined hands and she led her back to the safety of the sidewalk they had left from.
Speaker 1:It was like if you've ever been to the Sistine Chapel or seen pictures of the ceiling, of God's hand reaching down to man's and this little fingers so close. It was as beautiful as that. In that hand and that moment I realized that I was in such a hurry to get to my exam that I almost missed that moment of beauty in the universe. That started a lifelong search for beauty around me, which I write down several times a week when I stumble upon something that is inspiring and just plain old beautiful. Now, today, I'm very happy about being sensitive and I thank my mother's genetics Encountering beauty.
Speaker 1:My mother would say etch this in your memory. Sadly, our world today is steeped in conflicts and is extremely fear-based. Americans' belief that most people are trustworthy is at an all-time low. We have abandoned the art of looking for the good in others and looking for the beauty which surrounds us. In listening to this, my hope is that you will be inspired to slow down, ignore the negativity and find the beauty in your life and in your family's life, the beauty that surrounds us all, and then etch it in your memory. We're going to finish up Memorial Day with things of beauty that make me cry. Just writing this one, don, made me cry. This is so sweet and it's so deep into my heart. First of all, I'm one of those people I always cry when I hear the National Anthem or when I sing it. It just makes me think about all those who served and died in the line of service, or maybe didn't die but have had lifelong PTSD ever since. But the other one for today and I don't know what day of the day it was summer.
Speaker 1:I know that that my son was really into playing army men, firefighting police officers loved the idea of being a first responder. His dream was to be a firefighter. When he was little he ended up doing two years as a paramedic before he started medical school and I wouldn't be surprised if he works in the ER someday doing ER surgery. But a couple of times, when he was four or five. There was either a firefighter who died in the line of duty or a police officer who passed away, police officer who passed away, and those are moments in life where I think we really need to take those more seriously. And so one of the things I always did we live close to some very large churches here in Denver, one of the largest. So often when a first responder dies, the funeral takes place at that church and the motorcade goes past Either motorcades of police cars or motorcades of firefighters and fire trucks.
Speaker 1:My son being into firefighting, I took him on to a firefighter who lost his life, rescued a woman. There was flooding here in Denver, denver's prone. In the little community towns when it rains a lot, we're prone to flooding because there's not many rivers here, not many streams or lakes here, no place to hold the water. But he was rescuing a woman who had fallen into a storm drain and he ended up. She lived, but he died, and so I took him to the. It was a morning and we got out there an hour early waiting for the procession to come. So now I wanted to share it and he had his little firefighter's outfit on. I can still remember, like yesterday.
Speaker 1:And so the motorcade starts coming, fire trucks start coming, first one and we stood up and I looked over. Oh, I wish I could just travel and talk back. He was saluting as they drove by. I didn't tell him to salute, he just did, and it was an incredible moment and I know from the nods of the firefighters that he got. They really appreciated him doing that. Oh, just one of those sweet memories where you're just awestruck. That was one of them. So beautiful moment.
Speaker 1:Let's close out with things of beauty make me cry. It's really what I value and that's kids, and my own kids, and in this case it's my daughter. And my daughter is just one of the most empathetic child you could ever meet. But I was at the office the other day and our waiting room is closed right now. But at the start of the virus, way back in March, she made a little sign for us for proper health procedures, and it's her handwritten sign wash your hands, wear a mask and stay six feet apart. Now, now it's on the door to the waiting area so that when people were coming in there was the sign and I haven't seen it like six months because the door's closed. We've closed that off and it happened to be open and I saw her sign and I was just like, oh my God, that is, that's just so beautiful, my little girl helping us out, trying to help everybody be safe, and making that poster. And I know that's probably trite and silly, but it just really made me feel proud and just that emotion. But then it triggered a second emotion and it was anger that we're still dealing with this, and so it's that anger that, wow, this is just too much. So it's, I guess, the blessing of mixed emotions. Things of beauty make me cry. This is a tribute to 4th of July and a very moving moment in my own life.
Speaker 1:In 1985, I was studying in Virginia for the summer and I used to get to travel. On the weekends I'd drive my little VW bug up and down the coast and went to Washington DC for the first time. We'd been there when I was a kid, but that's a long time ago. But the Vietnam Memorial was there and I wanted to see the Vietnam Memorial and I grew up with that generation and so that had a lot of meaning in my own life and the life of my older brother didn't have to serve with some of his friends. So that's a big part of our own personal history and it really is an incredible memorial. It's a shiny black stone with all the names etched of people who lost their lives in the war and it's just incredibly moving just by itself.
Speaker 1:But what really brought the tears on for me was that weekend I think it was the whole summer, as I recall they had this tent, a couple of tents, set up as you were walking to the memorial and it was letters from mothers and this tent was filled. They had hanging tent partitions and these letters stapled or taped onto the partitions Thousands of letters from mothers to their sons and our daughters. It was the most tear-jerking experience I've ever had. It just was incredible and I want to read you one of the letters. This is for a woman named Eleanor Wimbish and it's what she wrote to her son and I'll read it to you and it really fits with what we've been talking about through these 10 tips and accepting loss and still holding on to things. Accepting loss and still holding on to things.
Speaker 1:Dear Bill, I came to this black wall again to see and touch your name, william R Stocks, and as I do, I wonder if anyone ever stops to realize that next to your name on this black wall is your mother's heart, a heart broken 15 years ago today and when you lost your life in Vietnam. And as I look at your name, I think of how many times I used to wonder how scared and homesick you must have been in that strange country called Vietnam, and if and how it might have changed you, for you were the most happy-go-lucky kid in the world. Now, briefly summarized, the next part is about her conversation with one of his companion soldiers that talked about what war does to young people and he said he told me about, instead of men getting a yellow streak becoming afraid or cowards, he said the men got a mean streak down their back. Each day the streak got bigger and then the men became meaner Everyone but you, bill. He said. Ah, you stayed the same Happy-go-lucky kid that you were when you arrived at VML.
Speaker 1:At the end she says they tell me the letters I write to you and leave here at this memorial are waking others up to the fact that there's so much pain left from the Vietnam War. But this I know I'd rather have had you for 21 years, and all the pain that goes with losing you, than never to have had you at all. Thankfully, we're all surrounded by beauty. If you'd like to share your experience of beauty, if you'd like to share your experience of beauty at the end of each episode is an option to send us a text. You can visit thingsofbeautymakemecrycom and send us a message. With your permission, I'd love to share it with others. Thank you.