Blog
Word Sketches — Images created with words
Have you ever tried to draw an image of something in your head using colored pencils, crayons, or watercolors? You must understand then the effort, creativity, and courage necessary to bring those images to the paper. I hope the words I sketch here will help you see the images I am creating for you. Even better, you may be inspired to create word sketches of your own!
“This time it’s all of us or none.”
The results of the US elections have the whole nation in a tizzy for one reason or another. I’m sure you can feel it in your bones as much as I do.
After getting everybody all riled up, now the media outlets are telling us what we need to do to relax: meditate, exercise, sleep, pet your dog, listen to music, write, etc. In order for me to stay sane, I will not delve further into the subject except to write that I am learning that comments that we make in public or post online often do not have the results we intended.
I am profoundly committed to listening to and working with others who disagree with me in order to make progress in this vulnerable situation in which we find ourselves. I appreciate your gentle efforts to point out my failures to me in this respect and apologize for my mistakes.
“This time that country is what we promise each other, our rage pressed cheek to cheek until tears flood the space between, until there are no enemies left, because this time no one will be left to drown and all of us must be chosen.
“This time it’s all of us or none.”
By Aurora Levins Morales
Artwork by Ricardo Levins Morales
Photo by Nylda Dieppa
Hope for the New Year
A new year is touted as a time for looking back at the lessons of the previous year, the situations our world and our communities are facing, as well as our own individual challenges. It’s an ideal time to commit to new ways of living in the world. Most years I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do renew my personal commitment to look for sources of hope and motivation. It’s an opportunity to develop a new clarity of vision for the New Year.
At the dawn of 2023, I think about how to dwell on the things that bring me hope so I can save my energies for working on the things I need and want to change. Some of those hopeful things are easy for me to discover. Others I find buried in the news and in other people’s optimistic attitudes.