"Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable."
~From "Evidence" by Mary Oliver
If you watched only a few popular movies and t.v. shows or read a few history books, you might think that violence and drama dominate life and the lies people tell mold it. Survival of the fittest, eat or be eaten, predator or prey.
Today, we're seeing survival of the kindest and smartest. We rely on partnerships, community, and support in our families, friendships, and cities or towns. We know they've always been there because we live with them. We are them. If we've been feeling discouraged for so long from being unable to create broad change and progress for all, now it seems as if anything is possible, as if a trap door has opened and now is our chance to stretch it wide open.
This Memorial Day weekend, the front page of The New York Times shows 1,000 of 100,000 Americans dead from a virus, while sharing small, loving details, and allowing us to acknowledge the profound loss. It is profoundly sad and sobering. It makes me think of my family and of the past. It makes me wonder where we’re headed.
We know we cannot turn back to be who we were. We are gone. It is like grasping at a shapeshifter.
Before going out on a drive on the winding Trabuco Canyon Road, I stopped for gas. At the gas station, a young attendant, finishing a conversation outside, ran in to sell me gas and a drink. With both of us hidden behind masks, using only our eyes and voices to communicate, he opened up. "I was just telling the other customer that yesterday was the worst day for me," he said.
"What happened? I mean, if it's not too personal to ask."
"Let's just say, today is a better day. That's all there is, right?" he said.
"Make each day as good as possible. That sounds right."
Today, the wind picked up, the misty marine layer faded, and the sun came out, making everything clearly visible.