Terror and Peace

Language is a poor companion: it merely outlines what I think and feel.

Events in my country terrify me right now. I see extreme division, the reduction of vulnerable people into abstractions. I see unfiltered suffering that is openly mocked and used as a political tool.

The usage of affliction to further political agendas is terrifying, and it is everywhere.

But even in this well of fear, even in my prison of personal influence, I feel peace.

Shaking, trembling, and disturbed peace.

I can't help but imagine all the generations that will come after me, everyone falling in love, feeling hope, crying in despair, the quiet heroics of a single mother.

My mind returns to this quote:

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

— Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

I must witness the people I can personally influence; I must do the least harm.

To offer grace to another disturbed human is the most holy love we can provide.

This is the essence of the human good.

In other words, reverence.