Hope

It’s been a tough weekend. Mass shootings at an Ivy League College, Antisemitic mass shooting in Australia and the murder of Film maker Rob Reiner and his wife, allegedly a crime committed by their son. Compounding the sense of darkness and grief, the reaction to the Reiner tragedy by the President was such an irrational, unhinged, disgusting rant that even Republican lawmakers spoke out against it.

Our fragile lives take on an otherworldly sense of disbelief when trying to deal with mayhem and tragedy. We are exhausted by the level of rhetoric and violence that has come to characterize the 21^st century. Antisemitic violence has escalated sharply since the October 7 attacks and the Netanyahu response in Gaza. Mass shootings in this country are cause for prayers but not action to control the readily available weapons of mass destruction. One powerful nation invades a smaller nation with seeming impunity. Political violence is fomented from the White House bully pulpit by a declining narcissist who lacks not only empathy and compassion, but any sense of the consequences of his words and conduct. Or, maybe that is too easy an excuse for the genuinely evil behavior we are suffering.

Persisting with optimism and idealism in the face of the onslaught is a challenge. How do we hope to match the wanton darkness that destroys lives. Sustaining hope in the face of evil has never been easy. Humans seem attuned to the dark side of our nature. How are we to light candles that celebrate miracles when we are overcome by grief? Where do we turn to maintain the passion and purpose to overcome fear and hate and turn us towards a brighter future?

We are capable of creating beautiful, inspiring works of art and craft that represent our best and highest aspirations. We can turn on a dime to help a neighbor in need. We can come together in community to heal in times of natural disaster. We have had leaders in our past who speak from the heart and lift us up. We have enshrined worthy ideals and values in our Nation’s founding documents. Time and time again, however imperfectly, however flawed, we seek the path that honors those ideals and values. Time and time again, we have stood as a bulwark against the forces of fascism, intolerance and hate.

And so, we mourn. We grieve. We cry. We repair. We resist. We speak out. We stand ourselves up. We carry on. I hold to the hope that we will bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice. I know we are capable of bold righteous acts of courage. I know there is a universal yearning for freedom from oppression, freedom from fear, freedom to live and thrive. I know life is fragile and our time in earth is short. I know we can and must do better.

We are tiny specks in a vast universe, or maybe tiny specks in many vast universes. The scale of cosmic time stretching out behind us like a starry river dwarfs the span of life on Earth. So, if we are such an insignificant part of the fabric of the cosmos, what purpose do we serve? it’s been said many times in many ways. We are here to love, to forgive, to seek truth, to persist even in the face of the unspeakable. So, at this time, in the face of the unspeakable, I light candles for hope.

Keep the faith.