Hi everyone!
The layout I'm sharing with you today is chronicling an experience of mine, while living in Chicago.
Living in this city has taught me many things; Empathy definitely being one of them.
I could easily walk by people on the streets with a judgmental attitude. I could easily, and have, thought to myself how they could choose to do better with their life.
One day, while walking to work, I passed where I usually pass and saw something that rocked my world. There, sitting on the edge of the Dusable Bridge (Michigan Avenue bridge that goes over the Chicago River), was a site for my eyes. Sitting on the ground was a homeless man I had seen many times and sitting next to him was a man in a three piece suit. The man in the suit was in the process of taking out some food from a Starbucks bag. As I got closer, I could see the pure joy in the homeless mans face.
The imagery that was shown to me through this act was that... we all have our stories. We all come from different pasts, cultures, upbringings, choices, lifestyles, etc., etc. Yet, we all have many things in common. We all have breath, a heart, a soul, a mind and a body that needs to be nourished.
After that day I challenged myself to stop, instead of zoom by on my way to work.
I've waited a long time to document this "rock my world" event and how PERFECT is the Empathy kit??? Because that is exactly what this has taught me. Have Empathy before Judging.
Because this whole situation seemed to strip me, I went with the bare basics with this layout. Soft colors. I love the bokeh paper by Maggie Homes for American Crafts (January bonus!). It was the perfect backdrop.
I intermingled the raindrops and the hearts to symbolize my heart being cleansed.
I still see Ulysses. That's his name! I'm not sure if he likes donuts but, he always takes my donut with a huge grin. We know each other by name now. He loves coffee. One of these days I'm going to need to leave work earlier than usual so I can stop and hear his story.
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