I overheard a conversation at the coffee house this morning. “Well, what are you gonna do,” the young man asked. His voice was tinged with a heavy resignation, one forged through years of despair.

As I looked up, I saw the events of this past week replaying over the television set – bombings, death and the expectation of continued attacks. It was a strike against the very core of our global community.

How can one not feel powerless in the face of such adversity? How can we, alone, rise against such a coordinated threat? How can we possibly defend the heart of humanity?

Oh, but that’s what they’d like for us to believe – now, isn’t it my loves? They want us to believe that so long as they are weaponized, there is nothing to be done.

That’s what they want us to believe, my loves – now, isn’t it?

They want us to believe that the ‘battle’ is lost; that so long as they are weaponized, they are likewise empowered.

But, that’s only part of the story.

In his book Calming the Fearful Mind: A Zen Response to Terrorism, Thich Nhat Hanh shares his reflections on the impacts of despair, and the importance of ‘community’ in our world.

“Without a community, we will become victims of despair,” he writes. “We need each other. We need to congregate, to bring together our wisdom, our insight, and our compassion.”

Oh, yes – my darlings, yes. We need each other don’t we? Now, more than ever.

And it’s effected always in the smallest of ways. Like sharing encouragement with a team member at work, or – spending an afternoon reading to the little ones.

We cobble together community through these moments, my loves. In doing so, we reinforce these threads of compassion.

There is always something to be done, my loves. Though first, we must be willing to keep our hearts open during these moments of despair.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️