Date of Publication:
May 3, 2021
Last Wednesday if you were on campus in New Haven, you might have been enjoying a sunny day, you might have been exhaling a bit as spring was fully revealing itself in flourishing blooms from tulips, dogwoods and lilies. You also might have noticed the presence of rather large inflated pink flamingos. Some were appearing on benches at Cross Campus, others were making themselves known on shuttles in East Rock, or being carried over to YNHH, some popped up on Old Campus and more parts unknown. Each pink flamingo carried a note featuring the Yale Chaplain’s Office logo and a message simply saying “Take me with you…Embrace whimsy.” As we distributed those plentiful flamingos we couldn’t help but feel a rush of joy and a glimmer of hope for better days to come. All who received one of those crazy pink birds were hit with a wave of utter whimsy and there seemed to be a shift in how they went on with their day. Even people who saw the flamingos from a distance could not help but smile.
Why inflatable pink flamingos you might ask? Why not? We know how hard this year has been, we know that we have encountered a kind of grief that we struggle to aptly name. We know that we have had to dig deeper and deeper to meet all the moments that have come our way. We know that it is not over. We also know that our hearts long for so much of what has been lost and our minds play tricks on us as we try to understand the weight of it all. We are craving something better, some relief.
A few weeks ago a chaplain friend of mine was speaking on a Zoom call to a group of weary care-givers who were looking for ways to find strength to keep going in the midst of so much heartache that is gripping our world. He invited us to close our eyes and think of “a future hope” and “a future joy.” As we did that something extraordinary happened because he then instructed us to grab those hopes, to grab those joys and to rub them all over ourselves. Just imagining that act felt whimsical, it felt freeing. The value of whimsy can often be overlooked, especially when there is so much anxiety and stress driving our daily life. The soul-freeing act of even just imagining lathering ourselves with our precious hopes and joys brought the gift of lightness to all of us on that call. We embraced that gift!
If you should encounter another inflatable pink flamingo in the days ahead or something else that reminds you of such a thing, embrace whimsy and cover yourself with it as you would the most soothing of lotions. Let it be a balm for your soul.