Thursday, June 15, 2017

Hands: The Tool of Tools

(This is a reprint of the speech that was shared by Elizabeth Siegenthaler, Director of the Green Hills Child Center, that she presented during the Child Center graduation ceremony on Friday, June 9, in Foundation Hall at Green Hills Community. For more than 30 years, Green Hills has offered child care to staff and the public and was the first nursing home in the state of Ohio to offer child care.)

Good morning.

Before we begin, I need you all to consider the importance of your hands.

Elizabeth Siegenthaler
Director of Child Center
According to Aristotle, the hand is the “tool of tools.” One of the very first things that takes place in meeting someone is to simply wave “Hello” or extend a firm handshake.

Hands give blessing while grasping another’s before a meal, or while folded before bedtime.

Often expressive, hands can offer an approving thumbs up, say that we’re #1, to rock on, to hang 10, or to peace out.

A hand is so important that a fortune teller not only uses it to track your past, but also to chart your future. In general, the significance of your hands is strength, power, and protection. However, it can just as easily mean generosity, hospitality, and stability.

Each day of our lives is filled with incidents that require our hands to be skillfully and silently involved, often to the point that we are nearly oblivious to how much we, and even others, rely on them.

Think back to the day your child was born. No bigger than a minute, your brand new baby fit in the palm of your hand—and from that point forward, relied on your hands to simply survive each day.

Equipped with the tools necessary, your hands …
swaddled Adelia…
rocked Elin to sleep…
changed Ellie’s diaper…
and fed Mason.

Your hands …
bathed Molly…
dressed Brayden…
tickled Braiyelyn…
fixed Olivia’s hair…
and zipped Ryder’s jacket.

Your hands also carried your sons and daughters into our Child Center.

Here, their hands learned the techniques necessary to …
crawl …
feed themselves …
share toys with friends …
do motions to songs …
paint and color …
wipe their noses …
write their names …
tie their shoes.

These children even learned that some hands hurt, but that there will always be hands to fix boo-boos and wipe away tears.

There … will always … be hands.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist said, “if you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment ...”

As your children rely on the help of your hands, you once depended on your parents’ hands to do the same for you. They once depended on their parents’ hands to do likewise. The hands of those who came before …    
swaddled…
rocked…
changed…
fed…
bathed…
dressed…
tickled…
fixed hair…
and zipped jackets for … you.

As your child leaves here today with his or her diploma in hand, I, along with all of the Child Center staff, will offer up a congratulatory round of applause, and keep our fingers crossed that our hands have assisted each one of you in preparing these graduates for the first day of school.

When that day in late August or early September comes, your children are relying on your hands for one more thing, and that is … to let go.

As you wait anxiously for the bus, or as you walk up to the entrance of the school, let go of your son’s and daughter’s hands. Like you once did for your parents on your first day, chances are good that your child will give you a reassuring thumb’s up.

While you wave “goodbye,” your child, armed with the “tool of tools,” will turn and wave “Hello” to his or her kindergarten teacher, and an entire classroom of new friends.


Congratulations to Green Hills Child Center’s Class of 2017!

In back from left: Elin Leichty, Molly Titlow, Ellie Louth, Adelia Leonard, and Olivia Keller.
From front from left: Mason Wallace, Braiyelyn Defibaugh, Brayden Clary, and Ryder Terry.