Tonight in his speech, President Barack Obama said, “For in our hands lies the ability to shape our world.”
And it took me right back to the origin of our school’s logo.
Years ago I visited a potter’s studio in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. His work was brilliant and inspiring and I left with his brochure.
On the front it had a photo of his arm and hand resting, palm open, on an oblong cylinder of raw clay.
That hand touching the primal material of his work moved me deeply.
Cut to a train ride in 1977, I was working through the book, What Color is Your Parachute?, trying to unearth my life’s work.
I’d just completed the exercises; I set the book down and thought, “I’m going to become a massage therapist.”
And the next thought to come surprised me, because I didn’t normally think about those things.
I thought, “I guess I’ll need a logo.”
And the vision of that potter’s brochure came up. Then I just took my magic marker and drew the line drawing of a hand resting gently on a back.
In 1988 when John Conway and I decided to start our school, he suggested we use my logo for the school. I was delighted.
We made it a little more abstract – some people just see a pretty graphic, some see the hand and back, some see a mountain range, or an air current.
But I know it’s a shape of inspiration that came to me as I contemplated a new life.
It came to me because I knew somewhere that for me and for each and every one of you – be you potter, massage therapist, keyboard jockey, mother, truck driver, scientist, musician – we have a responsibility and incredible opportunity.
“For in our hands lies the ability to shape our world.”