Meeting the World with Open Arms: Amanda Palmer and Sarah Kay
I’ve been reading Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking. I am a Unitarian Universalist, and much of what she says about her view on the world reminds me of some of the meditations I have during UU services. There is a focus on the positive and of hoping, sometimes even expecting, the best of people. Maybe this appeals to me because of my upbringing that emphasized looking for the worst in people. I’m not sure. But as a librarian, I like seeing that we as a species are worth saving, not just capable of violence, horror, and petty little things. There is something valuable in the individual existence that is beautiful and worth examination. Amanda Palmer’s experiences detail her reliance on her fans for so much, and while there is more than that in her book (and I encourage you to read it for a variety of reasons), that emphasis on the positive outlook is what I’m focusing on here. There is an optimism that can be uplifting and rewarding in opening your arms to greet the world with hope rather than meeting it expecting the worst.
Sarah Kay has a similar sentiment in her 2011 TED Talk, “If I should have a daughter…” Instead of putting up your arms to ward off the unpleasant, she imagines herself as having open arms and palms. While that lets her also catch a lot of unpleasantness and sorrow, she’s ready to receive special happiness when it comes her way.
Maria Popova of Brain Pickings did an interview with Kay. The interview and the TED Talk make me very interested in reading her book The Type.
Yes, hoping for goodness and going around life with open arms may lead us to have unpleasant experiences sometimes. However, I am hopeful that it may also allow us to see beauty and find some lovely people whom we can love and cherish along the way as well.
Children’s books that capture some of this optimism for greeting the world and those in it:
- Step Gently Out by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder
- Fox’s Garden by Princesse Camcam
- My Friends by Taro Gomi
- Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
- The Friendship Wish by Elisa Kleven
- Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry
- Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
