My dear friends…
During these terrifying times, so many of you have been sharing with me, personally, and certainly professionally in my therapy practice, the weight of the burdens you are carrying – and the toll they are taking. I wish I could gather us all together to voice our collective ache and for you to profoundly know how many people feel exactly the way you do.
You are not alone.
These days can feel – exhausting – I know. And sometimes I think we are made to feel deliberately so by those who are driven by the darkest of human impulses. They want our heads bowed and our hearts heavy – too weak to fight. But we have a long road ahead together – you and I – and we can share this watch – and these hardships. Strength can be found in being as vigilant in living the ideals that we are fighting for – as much as we focus on what we must fight against. Take time to – recharge… to find joy… in nature… in those around you… take time to laugh… especially laugh – and not let the news of the day consume you… to not let ugliness and despair fester within you.
These are the days when our shadow selves have been made manifest – at home – and across the globe.
Yes, our worst human impulses stand before us. Greed and corruption and entitlement… hateful withholding hearts, deception and jealousy – and a yawning merciless endless cruelty that stops your heart and steals your breath.
We know these things because we have felt them in ourselves.
We recognize them because the moment demands we must.
Carnage in human form.
Unleashed.
Emboldened.
Living – and breathing – and staring into our eyes.
Daring us to back down.
Daring us to look away.
Again.
But we have a calling – you and I.
And all people of good will.
We have been called.
And this time, we will not back down.
This time we will not look away.
This time – we will stare back.
This time – we will stare down.
This time – we will have the courage, together, to drag this darkness – every darkness – out into the light.
We will name it.
We will claim it.
And we will cast it out.
Today.
Tomorrow.
On November 3rd.
And every day after that.
Until the seeds of ugliness can find no ground to root – and finally turn to dust.
We will.
Because we can.
We will.
Because we must.
But – first – we must stay strong in our resolve…
We must stay strong and hopeful and united… and not allow ourselves, or each other, to be brought down low by despair.
When I am – tired – when I am truly just bone tired – tired in my soul – I turn to the words of our heroes…
People who have lived through times like these.
People who defined times like these.
People who transformed times like these.
I look to the clues they gave us… to the maps they left behind.
A way out.
A way forward.
Today I found two quotes by Martin Luther King that refocused and inspired me:
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
And, with those, I will leave you with a quote from Viktor Frankl… a quote you have seen me lean into before – a truth that has become a touchstone for me when I find myself – consumed – and blinded – by circumstances.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Take care of yourselves.
Look out for one another.
We will prevail!
Onward.
I AM. YOU ARE. WE ARE. MIGHTY.