As the relative order of life continues to dismantle itself, I reach for calm. I look for anything that will breach the discomfort. An idea, a loved one, a poem, a painting, a song. This morning I reached out to our children. Just a text, "Checking in. Are you ok?" I heard from both. That helped.

Later in the day I received a text from our son. He had been digesting the reality of bombs dropping far away, but not so far away.

The desperate logic of wrong thinkers in the middle of a meltdown. String-pullers in high offices setting the world on fire for their own agendas. Not mine. Not yours.

Here are his words:

"Hadn’t seen the news yet when we spoke earlier- been thinking about it most of today while doing chores. I said this to dad but I think this is (mostly) the america weve always lived in, not to say it’s okay- but to say we know so much more now, so in some weird way maybe finding ways to use our voices is the opportunity to grow into the myth of America we want to believe in. That’s my most opportunistic take of the day. Thanks for reaching out, glad to be on the shortlist ❤️."

I wrote back:

"You're on the short list alright...

And, yes. This lens you're seeing things through is clear. I love that you're looking for the light and agree agree agree with your POV. 🤍 In crisis, things do tend to get worse before they can get better. America has fostered A LOT of chickens. They're marching home...right now. I keep thinking about/seeing in my head the Japanese art of repairing broken things:

"Kintsugi (golden joinery) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise." Xo"

And then I began to revisit the concept of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). In kabbalistic mysticism the creation story is told in this way:

"At the beginning of time, God’s presence filled the universe. When God decided to bring the world into being, to make room for creation, He contracted Himself by drawing in His breath, forming a dark mass. Then God said, Let there be light (Gen. 1:3) and ten holy vessels came forth, each filled with primordial light.

God sent forth the ten vessels like a fleet of ships, each carrying its cargo of light. But the vessels—too fragile to contain such powerful Divine light—broke open, scattering the holy sparks everywhere.

Had these vessels arrived intact, the world would have been perfect. Instead, God created people to seek out and gather the hidden sparks, wherever we can find them. Once this task is completed, the broken vessels will be restored and the world will be repaired."

This Kabbalistic myth helps fire our imagination as we strive to fix what is broken.

So, Kintsugi.

So, Tikkun Olam.

So, correct thinking, generous thinking, kind thinking.

So, reach to repair whatever is broken right in front of you. We can fix things, one little piece at a time.

Love, Caro