A Little Love

by JAKE NORTON

January 2021
In this time of trouble and division, my mind is fogged, the path unclear. The only clarity I have is that we need more love.

I had grand plans to post something deep, eloquent, thought provoking, today.

I had grand plans to make some sense of the societal morass we're embedded in, more deeply than ever.

I had grand visions of insight, comprehension, understanding, empathy, and an idea of a potential path through the chaos.

But, alas, those grand plans have been stifled under the immensity of our collective tragedy, by the assault on our society and our democracy, and the disquieting, confused inertia it's generated.

So, all I have is moss. And nature. And Baldwin. And a call for love, just a little love to you, to your neighbor, to me and my neighbor, and to all of us and all our neighbors.

Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word “love” here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.

James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
Hearts in the moss above Nesso, Italy.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.

James Baldwin, "Faulkner and Desegregation," from Nobody Knows My Name

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