If you’re of a certain age, you may remember the introduction to a 1950’s TV show, when a few people gathered on a sidewalk shouted, “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” “It’s Superman!”
Oh, my friends, the benefits of looking up are so many: You see things you would otherwise miss, and you get a broader perspective on your world. There are even physical benefits of looking up.
But–even more remarkable–sometimes joy might just fall right out of the sky. And you wouldn’t want to miss that.
Imagine yourself as a soldier on the front lines during World War II, alternately bored and terrified, desperately homesick, missing loved ones. And imagine yourself looking up at the sky one day– and seeing something very odd parachuting from the heavens: a piano.
That incredible story in this episode will remind us all to be willing to look up from the challenges in front of us long enough to receive joy that can come at us from almost anywhere.
NOTES:
Make a Joy Box for Someone You Care About: https://jilbaughan.com/joy-box
Brainerd, Mary. “The Victory Vertical Project.” Golden Music. July 30, 2021. https://goldenmusic.co/blogs/culture/the-victory-vertical-project
Ellard, Colin, PhD. “Look Up: The Surprising Joy of Raising Your Gaze.” Psychology Today, February 29, 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-wandering/201607/look-the-surprising-joy-raising-your-gaze
Lee, Winnie. “When Pianos Went to War.” Atlas Obscura. September 10, 2017. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/victory-verticals-steinway-pianos
Patowary, Kaushik. “That Time When America Air-Dropped Pianos for Troops in Battlefields.” Amusing Planet. July 2, 2019. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/07/that-time-when-america-air-dropped.html
“This Is What Happens When You Look Up.” HuffPost. December 6, 2017.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/look-up-and-thrive_n_5800392
Wise, Brian. “Victory Verticals: During World War II Steinways Were Delivered to
Every Theater of War.” https://www.steinway.com/news/features/victory-verticals
