I wrote this on October 8, early in the morning before gathering with beloveds in Mallorca to explore community, unconditional love, and ideas of building new ways of relating. A new world, an emerging one. I was reflecting on the heaviness and previously unbelievable notion that such violence and hatred could be happening day after day while the world watches and the most powerful countries do nothing to stop it.

It feels as though we have been handed some moment in history that is terribly weighty and important, but we are unsure of what it means to say about us

and unwilling to admit we don’t know,

so we have stuffed it in the tight front pocket of our slim-fit jeans where it bulges out and intrudes upon the soft belly beneath

but we just keep pretending it’s not there even as it hampers our forward movement and sits

an obscene lump that everyone can see but we are all too polite or too embarrassed to call attention to

Kari O’Driscoll

10/28/2024