Meditation: "I'm Going, Too"

Today my 9th grade students are departing for a ten-day trip to France, and I realized this morning that I’m going, too. No, I won’t be sitting with them on the Air France flight, nor will I be physically traipsing along the narrow streets of Chinon with them or sitting with them in the various quaint cafes they will be visiting. If I look at life in a material way, as made up of innumerable material objects (including people), then, no, I won’t be with them at any point on their trip. They will be far away in beautiful Paris, and I will be back in my classroom, wishing I was with them. However, what I remembered this morning is that I will be with them, for to me life is a spiritual, not a material phenomenon. I believe in the utter spirituality of life, just as Jesus did, and Buddha, and Lao Tse, and Mohammed. To me, life is made up of thoughts, not things. To me, ideas have power, not objects – not even jet planes or physical distances. I will be with my 9th graders throughout their trip in the only way I can ever truly be with anyone – in my thoughts. I can be present with friends just as closely and truly when they are thousands of miles away as when they are standing next to me, because the friendship exists in our thoughts about each other. When my students are walking by the Seine, I will be there with them in thought, which is where all friendship is born and lives. I’m going with them on the trip, and I don’t even have to pack!