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I remember being a boy, sitting on the side of a hallway with my mother.  This was in apartheid South Africa.  A white priest walked by my mother and doffed his cap to my mother.  Imagine that!
Desmond Tutu, Oxford, April 2015

Last week, I was fortunate to spend two days in Oxford taking in festivities related to global social entrepreneurship. While there are definitions and complexities of the term that I can impart, I won’t do that here.*  Rather, in the conversations, from esteemed thought and spiritual leaders all the way through to the individual social entrepreneurs a consistent theme emerged – the deep human need to be visible in this world.
The story that Desmond Tutu shared is a powerful example of how one tiny gesture, one moment of visibility, could be remembered and then shared, some sixty or seventy years later, on a stage in Oxford.  His story of visibility sparked multiple conversations in Oxford of who is still not in the room and not at the table, of whose voices are we not hearing for or listening to, and most importantly, how we can each “doff our cap” to one another, acknowledging our shared humanity.
Make It Your Problem is someone who encourages us to use our voices and works to connect those to one another.  It was a delightful surprise that he shared the Liebster Award with this blog.  It’s not simply the extension of visibility for my own words, but also the opportunity that I now have to provide visibility into the blogs, words and images of others.  You could spend days Googling Liebster Awards and read all of the meaning it has held for bloggers.  I’ve enjoyed this mathematical approach, this logical approach (complete with survey), and a bit more of the spirit of the award.
There’s so many could-be rules to the Award, that I’m choosing to partake in my favorite ones:  thanking my nominator, shining the light on some great blogs, and passing along the spirit of the Award.
I doff my cap to:

Elaine Kessler Photography – capturing all our goodness through her use of the camera lens.

London With a Toddler – because clearly I can’t be the only one.

Sprout New Media – making the world of design and web feel accessible and beautiful.

We have daily opportunities to ensure that we are seeing the world around us and who is in that world.  For me, it’s practicing not to rush when I drop my daughter off at daycare – rather taking in her surroundings and getting to chat with her caregivers.  It’s trying out new activities in our community – the cafe, ballet class, bootcamp, church – to see who is with us in this place.  It’s also in staying present and connected to all my family and friends around the world.  Life flies by, but creating the space and the time for Skype and phone calls makes all the difference to stay connected and to let visibility flourish.


*You can learn more at Trico Foundation.
 

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Dr. Michele Fugiel Gartner, CAP