A Year that Defies Imagination

Here we are, nearing the end of a year that defies imagination. We continue to live in and through a global health crisis that includes lives lost and livelihood lost for many, many more. We’ve figuratively and literally stood with our friends, family members, and colleagues as we have all waged a war against the coronavirus. We are fatigued by the struggle, the losses, the changes in our lives. Many of us are grieving. We are changed. We will continue to change as individuals and as an association.

I was recently introduced to Faith & Grief Ministries, a multi-faith, non-profit group with the mission, “…to provide opportunities for comfort & hope to those who have experienced the death of a love one.” This week I had the pleasure (via Facebook Live) to participate in the fifth year they have provided a community memorial service and placed a memorial arch in a downtown Dallas park where people can write the name of loved ones they have lost on a ribbon and attach it to the arch. The arch is attended each day between Thanksgiving and Christmas by persons from Faith & Grief Ministries. The following poem was part of the service. It touched me. Perhaps it will lift your spirits too.

“Words of Hope” by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman

I thought I’d awaken to a world in mourning.

Heavy clouds crowding, a society storming.

But there’s something different on this golden morning.

Something magical in the sunlight, wide and warming.

I see a dad with a stroller taking a jog.

Across the street, a bright-eyed girl chases her dog.

A grandma on a porch fingers her rosaries.

She grins as her young neighbor brings her groceries.

While we might feel small, separate, and all alone,

Our people have never been more closely tethered.

The question isn’t if we will weather this unknown,

But how we will weather this unknown together.

So on this meaningful morn, we mourn and we mend.

Like light, we can’t be broken, even when we bend.

As one, we will defeat both despair and disease.

We stand with healthcare heroes and all employees;

With families, libraries, schools, waiters, artists;

Businesses, restaurants, and hospitals hit hardest.

We ignite not in the light, but in lack thereof,

For it is in loss that we truly learn to love.

In this chaos, we will discover clarity.

In suffering we must find solidarity.

For it’s our grief that gives us our gratitude,

Shows us how to find hope, if we ever lose it.

So ensure that this ache wasn’t endured in vain:

Do not ignore the pain. Give it purpose. Use it.

Read children’s books, dance alone to DJ music.

Know that this distance will make our hearts grow fonder.

From a wave of woes our world will emerge stronger.

We’ll observe how the burdens braved by humankind

Are also the moments that make us humans kind;

Let every dawn find us courageous, brought closer;

Heeding the light before the fight is over.

When this ends, we’ll smile sweetly, finally seeing

In testing times, we became the best of beings.

I’m looking forward into the new year, hoping for us all health and good will.