Day 83

I am a huge fan of Gungor's famous lyrics: "You make beautiful things out of the dust and out of us". It was one of the most played songs in my iPod to walk to college with. It only took about 10 to 15 minutes to go by foot to my campus from where I lived. I would walk past the nice quiet neighbourhood (one of the houses had a beautiful leafy tree), a short hidden flowery alley, and grassy sidewalks. Burwood surely was one of the most liveable suburbs in Melbourne for students. I took the lyrics of that song quite literally back then. After all, it wasn't difficult to spot beautiful things in a lovely place.

A few years later, after a series of happenings in life, I listened to the song again and realised the lyrics meant so much more than finding out beautiful 'perceivable' things around us. I realised there are beautiful things in pain, in hopeless situation, in loss, in chaos. It may be hard to notice them at first, because I'll have to look past the "dust". We see what we choose to see.

One time, I hopped into metro train to go to Melbourne city. I noticed a group of middle school students who sat not far from my seat. There was something interesting about those five or six teens (I couldn't recall how many of them). Usually teenagers were pretty loud—talking and laughing together; but these teens were silent even though they looked like they're laughing and having a good time. It didn't take long for me to realise that it was a group of deaf teens. It's amazing to see a different kind of interaction. It was a beautiful thing. I got off the train smiling.

Tonight I came across a video that made me think of that memory. This video shows how creativity and intentionality produce inspiration. It shows that disability—or any kind of limitation—should never stop us from making beautiful things. Enjoy it, it's only 5 minutes long :)