Beauty awakens the soul to act.   – Dante 

While thousands gathered for climate week in New York these past few days, I took a turn to a much smaller venue. 

I listened to scientists, brainy and brimming with equations, highlight the importance of human connection.

I heard about a police officer stopping to photograph a rose.

I met a new place through the loving introductions of its people.

I sat by the sea and marveled at the spiral of a shell.

I told my own story of discovering Chagall’s Peace Window at the United Nations, shifting exhaustion to hope.

I felt the power of being surrounded by plants and art and music, where once these were scarce.

Dear friends, we know that beauty is essential,

and we are surrounded.

Whether seashell or sincerity or symphony,

let us see it.

Let us be it.

Artwork above by Charles Clary, who notes, “We either rise to the occasion or sink into despair.”  Below is Chagall’s Peace Window, of which he said, “Stained glass has to be serious and passionate… For me a stained-glass window is a transparent partition between my heart and the heart of the world.”