Well, I think we can all agree that this year hasn’t been
the best. In fact, it has pretty much
sucked.
I haven’t said a lot because there really isn’t anything I
feel that hasn’t been said a thousand times over.
So many bright lights gone: princes, princesses, mothers,
fathers, sportsmen, those who made us laugh, those who made us cry, those who
made us cheer, those who made our blood boil, those who made our heart sing.
I know a lot of friends whose struggles have been much
closer to home, whose lives have been full of so much ugliness. Personally, there have been many days where I
have just huddled into a ball and wept.
The lessons that learned and the lessons we will learn are
never easy. Change can be agonizingly slow, or so abrupt that it takes your
breath away.
And yet, for all the horror, for all the pain for all the loss, we are
still standing. We are still here.
Yes, we have lost many. However, just because they are gone does not
mean the love, the music, the joy, the knowledge, the power, the HOPE they gave
us is gone.
There is a quote at the end of the novelization of "Revenge of the Sith" (I know, I know, but hear me out) that I have always loved"
The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins - but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone cancel is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle.
Love can ignite the stars.
That is one of the reasons why I started "Good Morning, Lovelies", as well as why I went through December doing 31 Days of Awesome. I need to remember that there is beauty, that there is love, and I really hope that some others saw that, too.
I do refuse to be blind to the evil in the world, but I also refuse to let it be the only thing I see. Give to the world. Give beauty, give love. At the same time, it took me a long time to learn that you can give and give, and while you shouldn't expect anything in return, wisdom is knowing when you have given enough and need to walk away because no one is giving in return.
So, my motto for 2017: Do no harm. But take no shit.
And as for everyone we had to say good-bye to this year?
I said earlier this month that one of the hardest lessons
you learn is that your heroes are not immortal.
This isn’t entirely true.
WE are the keepers of their immortality. WE are their
legacy.
We weep, we mourn, we hold each other.
Then, we stand up. We sing. We write. We create. We hold the torch.
We Have Hope.
