Still

Here it is—Saturday, January 2, 2021—and I've not taken the time to write what I wanted to say to everyone on January 1. I intended to, but things got busy, and I had to complete a few things all of a sudden, and now it's the second day of the year which you've faced bravely and gracefully without reading what I wanted to tell you.

And I'm still in the middle of a project and I can't take the time to truly express what's on my mind, but if I could have, I would have told you this:

Yes, last year was rough on many of us. We got sick. We watched loved ones suffer. We endured losing precious people. We carry wounds of deep sorrow. But still...

We made our grim way through an election that lingers on like sewer gas. Our financial world remains strained. And many lost their jobs through no fault of their own. But still...

Our faith in humanity has been shaken. We fought in ongoing mask debates. We battled in voting wars. We distanced too much or got too close. We watched the experts attack each other. But still...

We've been torn, bent, spindled, and mutilated. But still...

We're here. 

Still. 

Despite all that has been thrown at us, we remain.

We still go to our jobs if we're lucky enough to have them.

We still go to our churches to acknowledge that we are small creatures in a vast universe and aid is always appreciated.

We still go to school or send our children to school or help them in our dining rooms as we remember how much we hated new or old math.

We still donate to food pantries and meal kitchens. We still give to charities, always remembering that there—but for the grace of God—we go.

We still care, still help when able, and still love as best as we can.

Look, if I had time, I would have told you that that is what hope looks like. We're loaded with the stuff. We're filled with determination. We're still the ape reaching for the angel.

That's what I would have said, and then I would ended with my favorite lines from the poem Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

That's what I would have said if I had been able to find the time to write it properly. I think you would have enjoyed it. 

And maybe you did.

Happy New Year, my friends. God bless and keep you safe.

(Illustration copyright Depositphotos.com)