May 14, 2007
Be Like
Michelangelo. See the Best in Yourself and Others
I want to be like
Michelangelo.
I had the chance to
travel to Italy 16 years ago. Florence was one of the stops on my trip.
It was one of the most beautiful cities I had ever seen.
One day I visited
the Michelangelo Museum. I was excited to see one of the most famous
statues in the world, Michelangelo’s “David”. I walked through the front
door of the museum, turned, and there it was. The statue of David
standing high on a pedestal at the end of the main hallway. I walked
right to the statue and just stood there in awe of Michelangelo’s
creation.
After a few minutes,
I stepped back to give others a chance to get a good look at David. I
walked around the rest of the museum to see the other sculptures on
display. Everything in the museum was great. But I kept looking back at
David. I was so amazed that something so beautiful could be carved out
of such a hard stone.
So as I was leaving
the museum, I stopped a tour guide and I asked, “Do we know anything
about what inspired Michelangelo when he carved David?” And he looked
right at me and said in English with a heavy Italian accent, “Yeah, yeah
we do. Michelangelo said what inspired him.” The guide then turned in
the direction of David and quietly told me what Michelangelo had said.
“I saw the angel in
the marble and carved until I set him free.”
This is the moment I
decided I wanted to be like Michelangelo.
I think about this
every night when I check on my little daughters. Every night since the
day they were born, I go into their rooms just before I go to bed. I
pull up their blankets and I kiss them on the cheek. I look at them
sleeping peacefully and I think of Michelangelo. I see the angel inside
each of them.
We should all look
for the angel inside ourselves and our loved ones. We should ask the
question, “What is that special place within all of us?” We all have
knowledge, skills, experiences and expectations that are part of the
person we think we are. Yet at our core, we know there’s something
unique about us. Our best self is in there and we know it.
Every day I try to
ask myself, “How can I help my daughters stay connected to their real
strengths, to what they love, to do and what matters most to them in
their lives?”
The science of
Positive Psychology has found that this question is an important one to
ask. Co-founder of Positive Psychology Martin Seligman, along with
University of Michigan Psychologist Christopher Peterson, discovered
that people become happier the more they engage their signature
strengths. The late Don Clifton and Jim Harter, both of The Gallup
Organization, found in their research: “The more a strength is
exercised, the more integrated it becomes . . . teachers, mentors and
parents may accelerate the development of individuals by basing their
expectations for a person on his or her talents.”
Michelangelo had it
right. He focused on the good and he brought it to life. His statue of
David is a reminder to us all to look for the best in others.
Some day I will no
longer be here to kiss my girls good night. When that day comes, I hope
Eliana and Ariela will each say, “My Dad saw the angel inside me. My Dad
was my Michelangelo.”
© 2007 David J. Pollay.
Distributed by North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
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