Portraits of extraordinary people

What is extraordinary about someone you see every day, someone you meet on the street, on the subway, or at the cafe, while reading the newspaper, drinking a cappuccino, or working in the office, where you repeat the same motions every day? Apparently nothing, but if you change the lens of the glasses you look through, everything changes and even the man selling sandwiches on the street corner becomes a special person, and his life a legendary endeavor.

There are extraordinary people who live in Damanhur – as well as in the world – and this makes us all very fortunate. If we forget, there is always a good opportunity for remembering. The other day, for example, my foggy lenses offered me the image of a person who was annoyed and moody. At first I was surprised and I looked again to see if I had seen correctly, but alas, the image was just that.

The next day I went to a concert in the Temples. In the magical atmosphere of the Hall of the Earth, I saw the same person while he was directing the Damanhur choir. I saw him from behind, and under his guidance, a sweet and powerful song filled everyone’s hearts with emotion. When he turned around, his eyes were filled with tears, and the lens of my vision had been polished. I saw a person who was making an effort to offer the best of himself to others, and who – just like me – was faced with daily challenges to overcome his limitations. The impact of the day before was re-dimensioned to make room for that awareness, and in that moment I felt fortunate to live in the company of people like him.

This little story is to announce that next month we will start a series of videos featured on this blog dedicated to the beauty that is contained within each one of us. We will share the legendary stories of everyday people with unique qualities and daily challenges. If you like, please do the same: look around and be surprised by the people you see all the time, how many of their details you have missed… unique, delicate, fascinating or funny particularities that make each one of us more special.

Since beauty is contagious, if there is an extraordinary everyday person in your life, please share his or her story with us on this blog and on our social networks. We believe that among the many actions we can do to make this a better place, using the right lens to see people can change the world as well.

Thank you for this and for all that your imagination will inspire you to do!

Finding extraordinary things in everyday life is a task for extraordinary people.