Measuring Up

We measure everything. Even our babies. We measure how long they are, how much they weigh, what percentiles they are in, and when they hit various developmental milestones--rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking.

We are constantly assessing is my baby good, bad, ahead, behind? Is there something wrong? (And if there is, what should we do about it? Where can we find someone who will give us something to do about it?)

But the measurements are not the baby (and later, neither is the report card, the transcript, the C.V.).

Who is the baby without the measurements? It is so easy to see that joy, that spirit, that creativity and energy in a baby. It comes through in a simple smile or laugh or coo. Sometimes it is not so easy to see it in ourselves. Can we see that which is beyond measurement, that which cannot even be measured? Can we see that which is doing the measuring? The measurer rather than the measurement? The thinker, rather than the thought?

Jeff