Forming Community

What if the Vital Force in teenagers had been expressing itself enthusiastically all night long?  Earlier in the week, a group of high school juniors and seniors had kept many of us awake with laughter and loud voices.  We’d been sharing the St. Damiano Retreat Center. (They were there for a religious encounter retreat, and we were there for the March T’ai Chi Chih teacher training.)  These vivacious teens were expending what they had plenty of: energy.  The difficulty occurred when they expressed it late into the night – in the hallway and by jumping from room to room.  The following morning, this story took a beautiful turn when we received an apology letter signed by all the teens.  To unite our groups, we were invited to join them for an evening prayer, and Pam invited them to Push Pull.  

Magic was afoot in the room with Us and Them.  Many teens joined us in Push Pull.  We became one as we encircled the teens in love.  Any residual separation we felt from lost sleep slipped away into union.  We were forming community.  Us plus them equaled one joyous group.  For the remainder of our time together, we had many happy exchanges when we met. They were true to their word; they contained any desires to go wild in the evening.  A difficult situation provided an occasion to cultivate love.  We all flourished as a direct result of our loving gestures.