We Make the Path by Walking

National Public Radio has a project it calls StoryCorps. It’s mission, is to “preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.” That’s not an explicitly spiritual project, but it is a human one. Connecting people to one another and cultivating justice and compassion is in my estimation a path to God.

One of my favorite stories about the best of people is told on the bus. It is animated and told in 86 seconds by New York City Bus Driver Ron Ruiz.

Here’s a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye to accompany the story

A man crosses the street in rain,
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.

No car must splash him.
No car drive too near to his shadow.

This man carries the world's most sensitive cargo
but he's not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,
HANDLE WITH CARE.

His ear fills up with breathing.
He hears the hum of a boy's dream
deep inside him.

We're not going to be able
to live in this world
if we're not willing to do what he's doing
with one another.

The road will only be wide.
The rain will never stop falling.