Look with the Heart, Not the Eye of a Stranger

So much truth in the words from the banquet speech of the 2015 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich.

“Why do I write? I have been called a writer of catastrophes, but that isn’t true. I am always looking for words of love. Hate will not save us. Only love. And I have hope.

… In one Belarusian village, an old woman bade me farewell with the following words: “Soon we will go our separate ways. Thank you for listening to me and for conveying my pain to other people. I beg you, as you leave, to have a look at my little cabin not only once, but twice. When a person looks a second time, it is not with the eye of a stranger, it is a look with the heart …”

(Excerpts are from Svetlana Alexievich’s banquet speech during the Nobel Prize Banquet on December 10, 2015)

Look for Words of Love

What are words of love? When I was young, I thought words of love were only meant for people I knew. There was little examination of love’s greater potential or outreach. Perfect was the goal back then. Seeing words of love in brokenness and imperfection was not possible at that time.  I didn’t know my young ideas dismissed the wholeness of life.

In my late twenties, Life orchestrated an unexpected encounter to see words of love: Two words scrawled on a business envelope standing against panel East 47 at the moving Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Take a Second Look

My second look revealed the two words were not a soldier’s name but Alpha Company. The words whispered, “Remember them.” The barreling blast I experienced after seeing Alpha Company broke through the barricades. I saw a glimmer of light that I had never seen before. This was a different type of love standing in the brokenness.  Life and death were present in these two words of love.