I rarely read anything that suggests a truly new way of looking at life, but Amy Julia Truesdell Becker ’98’s reflection (Perspective, June 2) on the “good and perfect gift” of her daughter, Penny, did that for me. It did that in two ways — showing how much of what we value in ourselves is a gift to us before it is an achievement by us, and showing the amazing gifts we receive from people who lack gifts we take for granted. Ms. Becker is receiving such gifts from her daughter, a delightful little girl who has Down syndrome, but whose rich personality and effect on others is not fully defined by this “syndrome.”
I note from the “about the author” blurb that Ms. Becker recently received a degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. Whatever form of ministry she pursues — and I have a feeling that her living of her everyday life is itself a form of ministry — if she shares this sense of wonder at how much of life is a gift, she herself will be a great gift to those to whom she ministers.