AMAZING GRACE
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 2: CURIOUS FAITH
BY RICHARD KIMBALL
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/7/2014 6:46:04 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
—Albert Einstein
This second session speaks of faith, curiosity, and more. The session begins by asking youth to identify some of the wrongs they frequently encounter in their sixth-grade lives and then offers the story of Pandora's box as one explanation of how and why humans first encountered sins and other troubles. The session offers faith as one antidote to evil and then introduces the seven heavenly virtues and the seven deadly sins as examples of one religion's beliefs about virtue and sin. Temptation and curiosity are considered in connection with "Pandora's Box."
As always in Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong, a variety of activities keep things lively while also offering opportunity for deep and meaningful thought and introspection.
Some recurring activities, such as Conundrum Corner and Faith in Action, assume familiarity of both leaders and youth from previous use during Session 1. If you and others have not yet experienced these activities, you might wish to review the introductions in Session 1 before trying them.
Ethics Play is an alternate activity in this session. If it was a big hit in Session 1, you might consider reordering things to work it in for this one.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Sixth-Grade Sins | 5 |
Activity 2: Story and Discussion – Pandora's Box | 10 |
Activity 3: Sins and Virtues Relay Race | 20 |
Activity 4: Backwards Pandora | 7 |
Activity 5: Word-ly Ups and Downs | 10 |
Faith in Action: UUs and Action | 15 |
Closing | 3 |
Alternate Activity 1: Your Own 7s | 10 |
Alternate Activity 2: Ethics Play | 15 |
Alternate Activity 3: Kid Curiosity | 5 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
In the days before you present this session, revisit your own understanding of religion, faith, and spirituality. Explore your own thoughts about how the concepts of virtue and sin relate to and inform religion and faith. How has your faith informed your understanding of right and wrong?
In the moments before you present this session, with all preparations made, make a peaceful moment for yourself and for your connections with all. Breathe deeply. Know that your efforts to assist youth are themselves virtuous. Breathe deeply. Connect with what is good and true. Breathe deeply. Relax. Feel the energy of sharing fill you. Connect again with your leadership team, and be ready to greet your youth.
SESSION PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Lead the group in the day's opening rituals: a chalice lighting, a moment of focusing silence, and a moment of sharing.
Play "Amazing Grace" while participants gather. Use any version you like—bagpipe, voice, or another. As participants enter, greet them. If you have newcomers, greet them warmly and be sure they know others in the room. Give them nametags if others have them. Ask participants to look at the Conundrum Corner, but do not say anything more about it. In answer to any questions about it say you will be talking about it later. Discourage attempts to open the box and peek.
Stop the music, or reduce the volume to a very low background level.
Light the chalice, or let a youth do so, and speak these words (asking the group to join you if you have posted them):
May the light of this chalice help us to see through eyes that are curious—but not too curious.
Ask the group to be silent for a moment as they reflect on the opening words and settle in for the session. End the silence by saying "blessed be," or other appropriate words.
Ask the youth to go around the room and state in a word or two how they are doing. If everybody in the room does not already know everybody else, have them say their names as well.
Say that the title of this session is "Curious Faith."
Extinguish the chalice without ceremony and move the chalice table aside as necessary to allow movement in the room.
ACTIVITY 1: SIXTH-GRADE SINS (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
The group will create its own Pandora's box of daily evils.
Begin with words like these:
Sin or wrongdoing affects our lives often. Sometimes people do wrong against us, and sometimes we do wrong against others. The wrongs are not usually huge. Most of us do not kidnap anybody or start wars. However, sometimes I do things I should not do, you do things you should not do; all of us do things we should not do. Sometimes we do things that bother each other or hurt others. Sometimes we do things that hurt ourselves.
Ask the group to write down some of the daily sixth-grade wrongdoings that bug them the most. Suggest that they think of times that something they (or someone else) did was hurtful or harmful or had bad consequences. Maybe somebody lied to you; maybe you got mad at somebody who did not deserve it.
Distribute three or four index cards or slips of paper and a marker or pencil to each participant. Say they should each write one wrongdoing on each piece of paper. Then they should take the paper to the Conundrum Corner, lift the cover of the box, put the paper in, and replace the cover. Do not share what you wrote with other participants. Later, you will share with the group.
When all have done that, ask what the youth think is going on. "What is that box all about, and why have you just put all these wrongdoings in it?"
Somebody may remember the story of Pandora's box and guess what is happening. If not, accept a few guesses, then explain that they are making their own sixth-grade version of "Pandora's Box," a story they will now hear.
Including All Participants
If your group includes youth with limited mobility, you might deposit their cards or papers in the box for them. Alternatively, you might pass the box around so everybody can make his/her contributions while remaining seated. If youth appear to struggle with spelling, let them know that spelling is not important for this activity or offer to assist with spelling.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY AND DISCUSSION – PANDORA'S BOX (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants hear and discuss a story that explains how evil came to exist.
If you have time, ask youth to recall what they can of "Pandora's Box." Explain that it is an ancient Greek myth, one of many stories about the gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus.
Before beginning the story, set the stage by explaining that Zeus was the ruler of the gods on Mount Olympus. Another god, Epimetheus, made animals to live on Earth. Then Zeus asked Prometheus, the brother of Epimetheus, to make humans. Things went well for a while, but then Prometheus thought that people were cold, and he stole some fire from Zeus to give them. That made the people happy, but it made Zeus furious. (Do not dwell on Prometheus, whose story will be central to a later session of Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong.)
Tell or read the story of Pandora and the box of evils. You could also ask for one or more volunteers to read the story or volunteers could pantomime the action of the story while you tell it. Use the version offered as Story 1, or any other version that you like. Note that some other versions speak of a jar instead of a box. You may wish to adjust them to allow for the presence of a box in Conundrum Corner.
After the story, take the sixth-grade wrongs out of the box and share them with the group. How do they compare to the troubles in the Pandora story? Does the group agree that each of the sixth-grade wrongs is common and important?
Have the group respond to questions like these:
ACTIVITY 3: SINS AND VIRTUES RELAY RACE (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity introduces youth to the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues, and includes a quick examination of ways that religion and faith relate to virtue and sin. Your presentation of the activity can be as lively as a relay race or as quiet as a discussion or even a short lecture from you. The description that follows assumes that you will use the relay approach, but adapt it as you wish.
Introduce the relay with a brief statement such as this:
The version of "Pandora's Box" that we just shared said the box contained not just sins but all sorts of other evils, such as diseases. Other versions of the story describe the contents differently, though they all include hope. As a matter of fact, people have very different ideas about what the worst things in the world are—and the best things. Now we are going to find out about a very famous list of the worst sins in the world. These are called the "Seven Deadly Sins." The list comes from the Roman Catholic Church. They are called "deadly" because they can destroy the sinner's good life unless the sinner is forgiven through confession. During confession, Catholics tell a priest about everything they have done wrong and the priest gives them ways to correct their wrongdoing. Now we will figure out which sins the Catholic Church thinks are deadly.
Divide the group into teams of no more than seven. Give each team a copy of Handout 1, Sins and Virtues Meanings, and a pencil. Say that each team will send one member at a time running (or walking as fast as possible, with one foot on the floor at all times) to get a card with the name of one of the sins from one of your leaders. These team members should then race back to their own teams and read the card aloud to the group. Next, the team must refer to the list of meanings and write the letter of the correct meaning on the card. Then another team member will race up to get the second sin and bring it back to read to the group. This will continue until each team has all seven sins. The first team to match all definitions correctly wins.
As the game progresses, be available for questions about definitions, and help out as needed with useful suggestions or hints.
When all have finished, pronounce the winner (without much fuss). Ask what the seven sins and their definitions are. Offer simple definitions for those you think might not be familiar to your group, and any further explanations you think are appropriate. The sins are: lust (letter E on the list, an uncontrolled desire for something like power, or especially for sexual activity), gluttony (F, too much eating or drinking), greed (B), sloth (A, laziness), wrath (D, anger), envy (C), and pride (G).
Then introduce the seven heavenly virtues with words something like this:
Remember, our program is Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong. So it is not just about sins. The Catholic Church talks about virtues as well as sins. In fact, it has a list of seven heavenly virtues that are opposed to the deadly sins. Let us find out about the virtues.
Repeat the game, this time introducing the virtues. Vary the teams if you like, to help ensure that the winners are different this time.
After the game, pronounce a winner (again, without making much of this victory) and ask what the seven heavenly virtues and their definitions are. They are: chastity (I, moral purity, especially sexual innocence before marriage), abstinence (L, staying away from bad things like too much food or drink), liberality (N, being generous), diligence (J, paying attention), patience (M), kindness (K), and humility (H, being modest about yourself).
Ask the youth what they think about the lists. Tell them that this is just one set of sins and virtues; others exist. It is not necessarily the best or the worst, but it is very well known. Point out that the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues are based on what the Christian scriptures say. The Bible does not have those exact lists, but it often talks about both sin and virtue. You might also say that it would take a lot of study and thought to really understand what the Catholic Church or any other religion says about sin and virtue. Simply listing sins and virtues is just a beginning. It is easy to disagree with the lists or say that we would have included something else. We should not dismiss other people's ideas without taking the time to really learn about and understand them.
Conclude with something like this:
Unitarian Universalists have their own spirituality, their own religion, and their own faith. We also have our own list of Principles, or ideas about what is good. Yet, we do not have rules of exactly how to behave. We believe everybody has their own ideas about that.
Including All Participants
If your group includes youth with limited mobility, do not conclude automatically that they would not enjoy this activity. It might be fine to include youth who use wheelchairs or crutches. If that will not work, consider a more stationary approach, maybe assigning one leader to each group of seated participants and having the leaders pass out the cards to their group one at a time. The youth would be challenged to explain the meaning on the card to the leader’s satisfaction before going to the next one. The first group to finish all the cards would be the winner.
ACTIVITY 4: BACKWARDS PANDORA (7 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
This activity solicits youth's ideas about which evils the world could do without.
Ask the group to conceive the story of Pandora's Box written backwards. How would it go? Maybe Pandora would open the box and it would suddenly suck in all the troubles and evils of the world. Maybe hope would slip away.
If the group could select just one of the evils that escaped the box in the story they heard or that the group discussed today to be sucked back into the box, which one would it be? What about the daily sins they identified? Which one of those would they eliminate by sticking it into Pandora's Box and closing the lid?
You can enliven this activity by having each youth choose an evil or sin and act it out so others can guess what it is. Once the sin or evil has been guessed, everybody can make a giant sucking sound while the youth acts out being sucked into the box.
ACTIVITY 5: WORD-LY UPS AND DOWNS (10 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
This activity combines discussion with some simple movement as it leads participants to think about the meaning and purposes of religion and faith. It ends with an optional summary of faith definitions.
Remind the group, as appropriate, that you talked earlier about the idea of finding faith instead of hope in Pandora's box (in Activity 2). Then ask what else could have replaced hope as something that helps people cope in bad times. What about love? What about peace?
Listen to a few comments, then say that it is time for some yes-or-no decisions. Explain that you will make several statements. After you present each one, participants are to stand up if they agree, remain seated if they do not. Between statements, everybody should sit down and briefly discuss the idea just presented. If you decide as you go through the questions that some participants are following others instead of making up their own minds, ask the whole group to respond to a question or two with their eyes closed.
The idea is to convey ideas and prompt thought, not secure complete agreement, so encourage discussion as you proceed. Use these statements, or your own variations of them:
Summarize the session's message and clarify the term "faith" a bit more with ideas like these:
We use the word "faith" in more than one way. Your personal faith is your set of personal beliefs, the ideas that come from your inner spirituality, your religion, and from other sources, like family and friends and school. Faith is what helps you make meaning out of the experiences of life and order out of randomness. We can also talk about the Unitarian Universalist faith, the Jewish faith, and other faiths. So the word "faith" can be used to replace the word "religion." "Faith" can also mean a deeply held belief in something without concrete evidence. So you can say you have "faith in the future." This means you believe that the future will be good, that things will get better and better as time goes on.
Including All Participants
You can easily vary this activity for participants with limited mobility by asking participants to signal their answers with a raised hand if they agree.
CLOSING (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Briefly summarize what you have done in this session. Hand out any Taking It Home activity suggestions you have prepared.
If earlier you moved your chalice from its central position, retrieve it and re-light it without fanfare. Ask the group to sit and listen to these closing words and then to repeat them with you:
As we extinguish this chalice, may its light shine within so we may see the difference between right and wrong.
Play more of "Amazing Grace" as closing, benedictory music.
FAITH IN ACTION: UUS AND ACTION (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
If your group decided on a Faith in Action project during Session 1, then follow through with it now in any appropriate way. If not, begin this time with a brief discussion of the term "faith in action."
Ask what the youth think the term means. When they are working on a project to make the world a better place, are they practicing Faith in Action? Is this just a Unitarian Universalist thing to do, or do other religions do the same thing?
During the course of discussion, consider offering ideas like these:
Faith has a lot to do with belief. If you believe something, you have faith in something. If your faith says you should be virtuous and work to make the world a better place, then you can describe what you do as Faith in Action. In other words, you are acting out of your belief, or your faith. As the old saying goes, you are putting "your money (and time) where your mouth is."
Point out that many Unitarian Universalist congregations have social action or social justice committees that practice Faith in Action, and many other religions do similar things. They believe that if the world has troubles like disease and sin and evil, they should do something about it. Their faith tells them to do good work and they have faith that their good work will make the world a better place.
Connect the idea of Faith in Action to the daily wrongdoings identified earlier. Ask if one way sixth graders can practice Faith in Action is to try to stop some of those sixth-grade wrongs.
Pass out slips of scrap paper and pencils. Say the youth should each write down one wrongdoing they are sometimes guilty of committing and would like to stop doing. It could be not keeping promises or secrets; it could be not being inclusive of some youth in their conversations or activities. Remind participants that we all sometimes do the wrong thing: children, youth, and adults. However, we can always try to do better. (It might be helpful for leaders to participate in this activity to demonstrate that having shortcomings is universal.)
Participants do not need to show their papers to anybody, but they should stick it in a pocket or somewhere else where they can find it later.
Give each youth a small piece of string and say they might tie it onto a finger to remind themselves of what they are trying not to do. If they do not want other people asking about the string, they can tie it to a toe or somewhere it is less likely to be seen. Say you will ask at the next session how they have made out, but still you will not ask them to identify the behavior if they do not wish to do so.
Including All Participants
Be sure to make all activities planned by your group as inclusive as possible. All youth should be able to participate.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Meet with your co-leaders after the session to reflect on the session. How was your mix of discussion and action? In the midst of all the business, did you successfully include spiritual elements? How much philosophy and depth are your participants able to handle or interested in discussing? Can you talk about serious matters like religion and faith without boring youth to the point of disruptive behavior? If not, can you find ways to present ideas in very small doses? Are newcomers to the group feeling comfortable? Should you break away from the curriculum at your next meeting for a few moments of getting-to-know-you activities? What will you do differently next time?
Look ahead at Session 3, Being Good, Being Bad. Decide who will lead which activities, and who will be responsible for which supplies.
TAKING IT HOME
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
— Albert Einstein
IN TODAY’S SESSION… We talked about curiosity, and we shared the story “Pandora’s Box.” We saw faith as one answer to the problems of the world, and we discussed different definitions for “faith.” We heard about the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues, and we made our own list of common sixth-grade sins.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about…
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try…
MYSTERY AND ME
Take some personal quiet time and think about the answer to this question: Do you have your own faith? Think of faith as your own important beliefs, your own ideas about all the big questions, like what is virtuous and what is sinful. Having faith does not mean you have all the answers. It does mean you have some good ideas that help you understand life, how you want to live it, and what is meaningful in it.
Having faith also does not mean you will not change your mind. As Unitarian Universalists, we believe that faith will deepen, grow, and change throughout our lives because of the new experiences, new people, and new ideas we are constantly encountering.
If you are journaling Mystery and Me, write down some of your beliefs and their source or sources (what causes you to believe as you do). If some of your beliefs have changed over time, note that, too.
A FAMILY RITUAL
Talk each day about the right and wrong you have experienced. Find a regular time if you can, when everybody is together. Did you each do something good you want to share? Is there somebody in the family you want to thank for a virtuous act? Or is there something you wish you hadn’t done that you need to talk about? How can you make tomorrow a better day?
A FAMILY GAME
Curiosity Continuum. Decide who the most curious members of your family are. Gather in the same room. Say that one wall stands for “very curious” and the opposite wall stands for “not very curious.” Have everybody at once go stand in a line between the two walls, wherever they think is right for their own level of curiosity. Does everybody agree that the order is right? Is it okay if you disagree? Let family members each talk about how curiosity has sometimes helped and sometimes hurt them.
FAMILY DISCOVERY
Talk about where your family beliefs come from. Did your great-grandparents have the same religious beliefs your family has today? Does everybody in your family have the same important beliefs, the same faith? If not, can you help one another understand things better by sharing your ideas with them?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: YOUR OWN 7S (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Ask participants to create their own lists of the seven worst (deadly) sins and the seven best (heavenly) virtues. The group can brainstorm its answers while a leader records them on newsprint. If participants offer more than seven possibilities, the group can use discussion to try to reach consensus on the most important. If that fails, the leader can have participants vote for the top seven.
As an option, consider having individuals propose original ideas by writing them on index cards. The recorder can then list the ideas on newsprint for group consideration.
For this activity, the group can focus on typical sixth-grade or daily wrongdoings or on more major sins usually found in the larger world, such as theft or murder or making war. Leaders should decide which, based on the group's response to earlier activities.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: ETHICS PLAY (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants play a game replicating real-life situations involving ethical decisions.
At the end of the game ask whether any of the problems suggested by the game were mentioned in the story of Pandora's box. Ask why participants think life sometimes seems complicated and confusing. Is it because gods and devils are trying to push everybody into either virtue or sin? Is life more interesting because it has so many problems to solve? Or is it worse than it needs to be? Do your youth have faith that all the world's problems can someday be solved and that everything will turn out all right?
Including All Participants
If some participants have limited mobility, you might wish to have the group remain seated, or at least give individuals a choice between standing and sitting when they speak.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: KID CURIOSITY (5 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
Lead a group discussion about curiosity. Is curiosity in children a virtue or not? Start things off with questions like these:
Consider sharing these words from Canadian writer Arnold Edinborough: "Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly."
"Pandora's Box" may be the most famous story about curiosity. Youth may also remember reading others, including the "Curious George" stories by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969). Ask if they have recently seen movies or read other stories that involve curiosity.
AMAZING GRACE: SESSION 2:
STORY: PANDORA'S BOX
If Pandora were alive today, she would probably sneak a peek at every gift under her Christmas tree. However, Pandora lived in very ancient times, according to a Greek myth. She herself was a gift, a special gift that Zeus sent to Earth. Zeus was the head god of all the gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus in ancient Greece. He was angry at the human race because a rebel god, Prometheus, had given people the gift of fire. But that's another story.
In this story, Pandora went to Earth and caused a huge problem because of her curiosity. When Zeus sent Pandora to Earth, he gave her to Epimetheus as a wife. Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus, paid no attention when Prometheus said to be careful of any gift from Zeus.
In fact, Epimetheus thought Pandora was a wonderful gift and a wonderful wife. She was bright and she was beautiful and she was a good musician. She was also curious, of course, but Epimetheus had no reason to worry about that.
Epimetheus also liked a second gift that Zeus presented. So did Pandora. The gift was a beautiful wooden box that anybody who saw it would admire. There was only one hitch. The box was locked, and Zeus warned them never to open it.
For a while, that was not a problem. Life was beautiful in those days. There was no sickness. People never grew old or died. Everyone was happy, and that included the newlyweds.
Except for one thing—that box. Pandora could not stop wondering what was in it. Every time she looked at it, she wondered more. She asked Epimetheus to open it, but he said no. He wanted to make Pandora happy, but he was not about to cross Zeus.
Then one day Epimetheus left the house. Pandora tried to keep her eyes off the box, but she could not. She was just like a little kid left alone with the Christmas tree today. First, she looked at the box. Then she touched it. Then she lifted it up and shook it. Then, finally, after hours and hours of smelling and feeling and shaking and wondering, she could not stand the temptation any more. She broke the box open.
Instead of the jewels she hoped to find, instead of the pleasures she wanted, evils flew out; evils that still fly around today. One was hate and another was jealousy. Then came anger, hunger, cruelty, poverty, sickness, and death.
Pandora screamed and slammed down the lid. But it was already too late, and the lid did not quite close. She lifted it again to slam it even harder, and one more thing came floating out. This one last thing was good. It was hope.
Maybe Zeus was happy about Pandora's Box, but humans were not. The world now had evil in it. Things would never be the same. Still, not everything was ruined. People had the one thing they needed to keep going despite their new problems. They had hope.
AMAZING GRACE: SESSION 2:
HANDOUT 1: SINS AND VIRTUES MEANINGS
Match the sin or virtue with its definition. Write on the index card the letter below that matches the sin or virtue it describes.
Sins
A. Laziness
B. Trying to get everything for yourself
C. Being jealous
D. Anger
E. Uncontrolled desire for something
F. Too much eating or drinking
G. Thinking how great you are
Virtues
H. Being modest about yourself
I. Being pure and innocent
J. Paying attention
K. Being nice
L. Staying away from bad stuff
M. Willingness to wait calmly
N. Being generous
AMAZING GRACE: SESSION 2:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: SEVEN DEADLY SINS AND SEVEN HEAVENLY VIRTUES
Print each sin and virtue on an index card to make a set. Make a set for each team. Teams may not have more than seven participants. You will need to estimate how many teams you will have. Keep the sets of virtues separate from the sets of sins.
Sins
Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride
Virtues
Chastity
Abstinence
Liberality
Diligence
Patience
Kindness
Humility
FIND OUT MORE
Andrews, Rev. Dr. Barry M. "Educating for Faith" in Essex Conversations: Visions for Lifespan Religious Education (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2001). Examines the idea of faith as a product of spirituality and religion.
Amery, Heather. Greek Myths for Young Children (Tulsa: EDC Pub., 2000). Despite its title, this beautiful book can be shared with sixth graders. Includes a version of "Pandora's Box."
Colum, Padraic. Great Myths of the World (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005). Also includes a version of "Pandora's Box."
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