The Unquiet Bones

by Loreth Anne White

We live in a society that places high value on resolving problems, on finding solutions, on ‘getting over’ things quickly.

“What we need to find are ways to coexist with our complex feelings, and to always remember that our reactions are completely normal.”

Human migration. Refugees. Displaced populations fleeing wars and famines and persecution and catastrophic geological and weather events. It’s this looming problem that is changing the tone of politics and fostering nationalist sentiments around the world. Yet the same thing could happen to any of them, even right here. If California experiences the big one, for example, or if fire seasons become too intense, or if the oceans rise a few feet around Florida, masses of North Americans could become migrants of a sort.

The things we do, for our children—to keep them safe, to atone for our own childhood sins, when inside our aging bodies we’re all really just still frightened and bullied children ourselves

Mental health clearly can be an invisible demon.

“Emotion is not weakness, Jane. Empathy is not soft. It’s what makes us most human. Most strong.”