Where Art Thou?

God said to Adam, "Adam, Where art Thou?" Adam responded, "I'm hiding."
God said to Abraham, "Where art Thou?" Abraham responded, "I am here."
Abraham said to Issac, as they were walking up to the mountain together, "Issac, Where art Thou?"
Issac responded, like his father, "I am here."

In our lives we will be asked where we are. This entails contemplating where we have come from and where we are going. As educators we will ask our students, if we are interested in them as individuals, where they have come from, where they want to be, and who they are in the present. But these are difficult questions, and to ask them of oneself, or of others, it is only possible on the basis of self-respect, and respect for others. We must respect the fact that the answer to this question is as much a work in process as it is a simple statement that affirms the unchanging presence of the moment. We don't always know where we are - and this should be respected.

God speaks to Adam, a confused man who doesn't know where he is, in the same way he speaks to Abraham, the knight of faith. They are both referred to as "Thou." And Issac too, a child, is addressed in the same way. If we recognize the light and life force of the cosmos within every person, and the "Thouness" of every creature, plant, and rock - all beings, all children, even the most difficult and misunderstood ones, are deserving of our respect, and much patience.

"Every particular Thou is a glimpse through to the eternal Thou." Martin Buber, Jewish Philosopher