May 24, 2025

One of my favorite stories to read to my children was Frederick, by Leo Leonni. It’s a super simple story with great illustrations about a family of field mice preparing for the winter. All of them work their long tails off collecting food for the winter, except Frederick. All he does is stare out into space. When they asked Frederick why he wasn’t working, he said, “I do work. I gather sun rays for cold dark winter days.” A few days later, exasperated, his family again asked why he wasn’t working, and he responded, “I gather colors. For winter is gray.”

The story morphs into winter, and all of the stored food is gone, and the weather is gray and cold. And the mice find themselves nourished by Frederick, whose messages of spring time, color, and hope sustain them in the darkest times.

I love it.

We need messengers like Frederick in our lives.

If you are on my mailing list, you remember that I recommended Andor, the Disney Plus series that is part of the Star Wars saga – it’s right before Rogue One, which is right before the first ever movie in the series – Star Wars IV – A New Hope. And if you decide to watch them for the first time, do so in reverse order, Star Wars IV, then Rogue One, then Andor. It’s worth it.

Cassian Andor is the hero of both Andor and Rogue One. He’s a hero who comes from nothing, and spends his whole life somehow being in situations where he emerges as a hero – a catalyst in helping good people and stopping evil ones. He’s not looking to be a hero, but he does love and care about people, and he has a knack for being in difficult situations at the right time. 

One time, when he is physically injured and just plain worn down, his friend convinces him to see a “healer.” And he is quite skeptical. He’s not a believer in anything bigger or grander than what we can see in front of us. But he goes and has a brief interaction with the healer. His physical ailments are better the next day, but that’s not why I am retelling the story. She asks him how he is doing, and he says, “I sense the weight of things, things I can’t see. Pain, fear … need.” 

This strikes the healer, and she also is powerful enough to sense Cassian’s aura/meaning/purpose, and all of that inspires the healer to once again believe in a brighter future. As she tells Cassian’s friend, 

“Most beings carry the things that shaped them. 
They carry the past. 
But some … very few … They’re gathering as they go. 
There’s a purpose to it. 
He’s a messenger. 
There’s some place he needs to be.”

I love that concept.

I think we can all be gatherers and messengers like Frederick and Cassian Andor. And I believe that all of us can have purpose in that role.

I have been shaped, I carry joy and pain from the past, and I have been gathering for 63 years. And there is purpose to it. Here are some thoughts on that gathering and that purpose:

• I have spent my life trying to be around people who are loving and caring, who feel the pain of others and try to make it better. They are the ones that I want to gather and learn from. 
• When I was at my lowest point in my life, it was the kindness of others, whether that kindness was directed at me or at others I didn’t even know, that gave me strength to carry on.
• I have spent my life avoiding people who are angry and afraid. That is hard to do these days, but it is easily worth the effort.
• All of us who are parents know what it means to be a messenger. Raising a child who is kind, loving, and caring is purpose in itself.
• People ask me all the time why I write these posts every other week. It’s hard to answer. It’s not the money, that’s for sure. But maybe it’s the idea of being a messenger and sharing my gathering journey. It’s about finding like souls during my journey, souls who appreciate what I’ve learned, what makes me laugh and cry, and what makes me pause with wonder. And it’s about hearing back from so many of you about your gathering and your messages.
• All of this makes me realize how important it is to look for messengers of hope and truth. I can point to so many of my friends who play that role for me. I look to artists. Bruce Springsteen, one of our president’s newest enemies, recently said, “One of the artist’s jobs is to make sense of existence and to make sense of the current times that you live in, and to contextualize those times.” 

If we can’t be a messenger like The Boss, Frederick, or Cassian, we should try to be around people like them. When the loudest voices spew hatred and anger, seek out the powerful voices that speak the truth and inspire love, hope, and kindness. And if you are able, be that voice. It does not need to be loud. Even if we are as quiet as a field mouse as we speak the truth, it makes a difference.

Post #133 on www.drmdmatthews.com

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NOTES

I add these notes sections for a number of reasons:

• Remember, the posts are long enough – no one is making you read the notes. (Dad – If you are going to critique me for how long my posts are, please stop reading now. This is the optional part!)
• First and foremost, many of you are crazy enough to read them.
• Ideas that don’t make the cut can end up in the notes section.
• I include additional resources, links, stories, for those of you who want to go a little deeper.
  I may include something from the comments made in my last post, or something I learned in the process of writing this one.

Yes, this is a Star Wars geeky post. I know. But Star Wars is so good. It’s good vs. evil. It’s science fiction and storytelling at its best. And I’m a card-carrying fan. I remember being stunned after coming out of the theater after watching the first Star Wars movie in 1977 – my freshman year in high school. Between that, Saturday Night Live, Steve Martin, and Boston’s first album, I had enough to talk about to impress all the girls at parties. Strangely, none of those conversational techniques worked. Oh well.

Star Wars quotes that are often repeated in our house:

• These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
• That’s no moon.
• I am your father.
• Do, or do not. There is no try.
• This is how liberty dies. To thunderous applause.

And finally, a speech from Andor, from Senator Mothma, who later leads the Rebellion. It is her final speech as a senator, and it is echoed forever throughout the Star Wars universe:

I believe we are in crisis. The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever screams at us the loudest.
– Mon Motha, Andor