The world does this thing sometimes where it’s horrible. Bloody nose, paper cut, skinned knee, severed toenail, broken heart, terrorism, hate horrible. It does this thing where its center does not hold because there is no center to hold.
No one teaches us how to cope with the tragedy except by giving us long fingers with which to point at the thing that hurts. No one teaches us how to cope with the pain except by giving us the words with which to name it.
I am pointing at the world and I am calling out names because I don’t know how to summon healing into this place. I don’t know what this world is trying to teach us but I’ve got to believe that it is trying to teach us something.
I keep hearing people say, “This past week was horrible.” News anchors, friends, family, and even strangers on the hiking trails—all of them seem to be mentioning the pain of America in the past seven days.
Let me pause here and acknowledge the grim nature of my own tone. Maybe you’re thinking, “Oh god. Why is she saying this? We don’t need another dark voice. I already know things are bad.” Maybe you’re thinking, “Shut up. Things aren’t even that bad.” Maybe you’re a meditative expert who truly isn’t thinking anything (side bar: if you are a meditative expert who truly isn’t thinking anything, please feel free to contact me with your secret because I would love to quiet my mind for a day or two). No matter what your response is to the suffering we constantly consume, my point is that you do have a response.
This is what matters. You have a response.
You have a response when the reports break that Alton Sterling was murdered by police in Baton Rouge. You have a response when 5 Dallas police officers are murdered as retaliation. You have a response to terrorist bombs going off across Europe and the politicians in America fueling their campaigns with hate. You have had a response for every horrible thing that has happened on this earth ever since there has been this earth.
You always have a response.
You have a voice and a response and you should sit with the people you love to hear theirs. Maybe you need a break from listening to others, so you sit with yourself and listen to what it is that you feel. Maybe you create a space of silence in this sometimes disgustingly connected world and you just listen to yourself. Maybe you make your own words. Maybe you land on no answers, but at least you’ve listened. Maybe all you do is find another wound, and with your delicate finger, point to it.
Today, thank you for looking and for listening to mine.
