When the World Goes Quiet

by Gian Sardar

But the need to be right—to insist you are right—has caused more problems in the world than actually being wrong.

“You might take comfort in this, and you might not, but life is repetitive. Maybe it’s the journey humans need. But every so often, a war or a plague or what have you. A hundred years pass, and our streets look different, so different that we think we’re nothing like the people who came before us. Our situations, our circumstances, they’re all new. They must be, we think, because we’re so different. We want to be different. But at the core, everything’s the same. A hundred years ago, two hundred years ago. The same lessons learned differently. And no matter when it is, you can guarantee something’s waiting in the wings to make us feel broken, but more importantly, to force us to find a way through.”

“Lord knows we’re all so different. Each one of us. And it’s exhausting and it’s trying, but you ask anybody and our truths are the same: we want what’s best for the people we love. We just get there differently.”