Except to Live

Shine your light today. Light is the antithesis of darkness. The brighter our collective light, the better we’ll outshine the darkness. ~ Writer and editor, Diane Hughes

The headlines capture our reluctant eyes first. Bombing. Boston Marathon. We are first in denial. Perhaps it won’t be too bad, we think. Just a minor incident, no one hurt, just frightened.

But then, it unfolds before us. And we know then. Evil has come. Again.

We weep. We despair. We hold our hands to our mouths and gasp in horror, our hearts opening in that way they do when we see our brothers and sisters in anguish. We learn of the father who lost his boy and may lose his wife while his little girl is suffering in a hospital room – we say to one another, how will he go on? How will his little girl make it through without her mother? 

We ask, what can we do?

But there is nothing to be done, except to live. To dance, to run, to love hard and deep, to kiss in the rain, and laugh out loud and chase dreams instead of demons. To be present in the presence of virtue and beauty and truth and goodness. To take in the smell of our child’s freshly washed hair, the first bite of a peach, the doubled over laughter with your best friends and the scent of the sea. To give your big, bold heart without caution to those you love. To accept the love we’re offered. To jump into your own life with the courage of a lion and the innocent soul of an unscathed child.

To shake our fists in the air and say, no, no, no, good will triumph, love will win. We will not give up. Ever.

To shine so brightly with life the evil knows it cannot diminish us, cannot break us, cannot change us, cannot make us weep forever.

To reach for one another. Again and always. Just this. To love hard and deep.