Author: clfuu

Every day for the past two years, I have done online Spanish lessons using a popular language learning program. Each day, I learn new words, and new ways to express myself in a language I did not grow up speaking. Each day, I get a little closer to the goal of honoring my Spanish-speaking siblings and neighbors by speaking their language. And two years in, I’ve finally summoned the courage to talk with the parents of my child’s classmates. -Michael Tino (CLF)

What goals have you persisted towards?

“The heart can think of no devotion
Greater than being shore to the ocean—
Holding the curve of one position,
Counting an endless repetition.”
-Robert Frost, “Devotion”

To what or whom are you devoted?

“May our lives be blest according to the depth of our love,
the persistence of our faith,
our willingness to forgive and be compassionate,
and in proportion to our yearning to be free.”
-Paul Beattie

How can you show compassion today?

“Forebears who led the way where there was, at first, no way,
lend us your persistence, your temerity, your assurance
that the moral arc of the universe does, indeed, bend towards justice.”
-Karen G. Johnston

What lessons are the ancestors teaching you today?

I so admire the persistence of the animals in my life. If there’s a need, they will let me know I need to meet it presently, and directly. I hope I can be as articulate and forceful with my boundaries and needs. Nina, my puppy, asks for what she needs, without the notion that our relationship will be negatively affected for having done so. How powerful. -Lecretia Williams (CLF)

How have you learned persistence from animals?