October 2023

I am a word nerd. I love cryptoquotes, word jumbles, and learning big words I’ll never use like “floccinaucinihilipilification.” 

And so it was that I happened to notice the other day that the words “react” and “create” have the same combination of letters, save for one letter: an extra e.

Then it struck me how appropriate that similarity is...

In the crazy world we currently occupy, it’s easy to react to things we see as annoying, nonsensical, or even maddening. Many stop there; they simply react — perhaps with a rant or lamentation.

But we can do more than react.

We can create.

To do so takes reorienting, reorganizing, and rebuilding. And all of that requires that extra e: energy.

We may not have the energy to create instead of react every day. But when we do have it, that energy is worth the investment.

After all, do you want to look back on your life and realize you simply reactedto the world around you? Or do you want to have a hand in creating the world you want to see?

- Piper Hendricks, Executive Director

(Photo by Ben White)