In acknowledgment of despair

It’s so easy to feel despairing at the moment. The world feels ugly and violent.

So violent.

Despair is easily dismissed. People try to ‘buck you up’ and tell you it’s going to be ok.

But rarely are we invited to sit with despair. To develop a deeper appreciation of it.

I believe it’s an emotion we should treasure more. Because despair is indicative of investment. Investment in society, in the future, in our world.

Although it doesn’t see a way out of the hopelessness, its very nature signals that it’s aware there’s an alternative.

Somewhere.

It just can’t find it.

We need people who have the capacity for despair.

Because people who have that, also have the capacity for compassion, for empathy, and heart-to-heart connection.

For myself, in recent moments of despair, I’ve also seen this; a woman holding a nation together with strong boundaries and a compassionate heart.

I’ve seen someone who understands that being a leader also means allowing yourself to be seen as a human being. It means showing respect. It means listening to those who’ve been deeply harmed. And stepping back, allowing them to lead the way toward peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness.

I’ve seen other women and men too. Good, kind people speaking up with voices of reason, explaining how and why these things come to pass. Describing the clear trajectory from making some people ‘other’ (different, ‘not like us’), to the mass murder of such people.

I’ve seen some media outlets create the space for wise heads and a range of voices to be heard.

Each time a media outlet makes that choice, we all have a chance.

A chance to spot our commonalities without the booming voice of divisiveness ringing in our ears.

Certainly that voice is still vying for our attention, but that’s not all there is.

There’s more.

More space for diverse perspectives. More space for all of us to access deeper truths. More space to see what we’ve been blind to.

It’s in these spaces that my own despair transmutes into something I can only describe as a deep and abiding love.

For humanity.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of her.

And this, I’ve come to realise, is the deeply peaceful gift that lies in the heart of despair.