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It is dark and we are scared.
You have spent months drifting in and out of uneasy sleep only to open your eyes each morning to the nightmare. You have become conditioned to expect the worst because these dark days it is about the only thing you can count on. You mutter to yourself because words fail. In the nightmare you are completely powerless while the evil destroys what matters. You somehow reach out, but it grabs you. This never should have happened, but try as you might to edit out the black, awful detail of that damned November day, it always ends in the dark …
An amazing thing has happened.
Somehow in that darkness we have found each other. We’ve never met, but immediately recognize each other. It dawns on us we cannot make it through this gloom alone. Safe harbor. A shoulder to cry on, heavy lifting to be done. There are marches to plan and checks to write. There are elections to run and efforts aimed at the vote. A wave is building. We are rocking the boat. We fall hard on the deck but pick each other up. Our shoulders are tired, but stronger from lifting. Our minds are sapped, but still raising spirits …
We are battle-tested.
Nobody chose this fight. It chose us. We blame ourselves. We could have done more to prevent it. You can always do more. We understand that now. We are fighting for the privilege of proving this to anybody who will dare doubt us again. They don’t care and are in the process of really pouring it on. How much more of this can we take?! We talk of running because it’s all too hard and hopeless. But what good is seeing in the dark if all you are going to do is run from it …?
We are still here.
We are tired and beaten down. We are still standing tall. There are more of us all the time. It is even darker, yet we see each other so much more clearly. You fall down, I will pick you up. You know that now. You rest while I fight. I’ll sleep while you dream. We’ll be OK. But there is work to be done. Do you need a hand?
