What I Try to Remember When the World Feels too Terrible for Words

“One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.”― Charlie Mackesy

Photo by Viktor Forgacs™️ on Unsplash

Yes, heartbreak, like the sea, is rising. Palestinian schools turned graveyards. Universities police students for using the thinking they’ve paid for. More bans on women's bodies. History, dosed in blood and bureaucracy. But what about those who fought so our lives would never be reduced to a single idea? 

But what about the miracles walking among us?

The professors linking arms to protect their students? What about wildflowers? People holding hands during chemo? The sound of warm water lapping, as you wash the day off you in the bath? What about every gorgeous ache that turned you like a gem?

The world is grief-choked and pulsing hope. Our hearts are full of traffic and symphonies and too much caffeine.

Here is the secret: You are the story you tell.

If we name what is terrible, shouldn’t we name our miracles, too? Doesn’t love also deserve a spotlight? The vow of standing shoulder-to-shoulder, holding fast to the fire inside us? Making the noise in…