Take My Hand

by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

I thought of Lou and his youthful face and innocent enthusiasm. He could not possibly understand that he held the hopes of not just this family but our entire people in his hands.

“Sometimes love can kill you, just like hate. You love too hard and you can lose yourself in other folks’ sorrow. You hate too hard and you know the rest of that story. Take care of yourself. You can’t help others if you’re down and out. I have to remind myself of that all the time.” “I never thought a nun would tell me I could love too hard.” “Only Jesus’s love is infinite, Miss Townsend.”

I had never known that good intentions could be just as destructive as bad ones.

I needed to talk to her, to tell her I understood how a person could get so caught up in doing good that they forgot that the people they served had lives of their own.