Work in Progress

“The world is broken.”

A man weathered by years muttered to the newspaper as I passed by, on my way to another unassuming task in my unassuming life.

We fancy ourselves realists.

Wars erupt on our television screens and on soils we only dream about and images of her bad days brand themselves into our skin until we are too desensitized to stop ourselves from believing that hope no longer has a home on her surface.

We are wrong.

The world is not broken. She is a work in progress, just like me, just like you.

I believe each of us has a light that burns so bright that even a starless night can’t convince it to stop shining against the blackness. We still pray for each other during the hard times. We still demand justice from those who would have us forget. We still cry for an absolute amid our fear of the unknown.

Still, there are those who wish on shooting stars that have long since burned out. They are broken by degrees and preach their sorrow to our fragile faith. They are the ones who believe that our humanity has been lost in the disarray.

We can choose, you and me, to drown in the earth’s typhoon and convince ourselves that the sun doesn’t shine behind the storm clouds.

Or we can find the good in the way people smile on the bad days, the random acts of kindness, the friendship we can find among strangers, the profundity in the voices who call out for something they believe in, and finding the definition of sameness in those who appear to be different at first glance.

I do see hope.

Life exists in so many different masks. We can learn to see beyond them, to peel them back slowly until we remember who we are, who our neighbor is.

Yes. It is true that we are hurt, sad, confused, complex, hypocritical, ignorant and proud…

But we have this heart that beats so loud above all the white noise—that beacons us back when we forget its quiet rhythm. Hearts hat pound like war drums, drums that make us rise so triumphantly against the thieves who would steal our peace in the black of night.

We need not be afraid of the chaos that exists in the space around us. Life is a beautiful mess. Light would have no place on this earth if the darkness were to surrender. Wars rage on, but so does kindness. We are told to burn flags and we raise them. When we are told to be still but we dance. When we are told to destroy but we create. When freedom is stifled we sing at the top of our lungs.

Men and women are called upon to hate their enemies, and men and women find a reason to love them anyway. There is hatred, yes, but there is love I tell you, love.

We are not lost.
We are here.