by the Sea

 

Grieving is the practice of feeling the pain of loss. Grief is the price of love. We grieve what we have loved. The more you love, the more you will grieve in this lifetime.

 

Loving someone also means grieving with them. It means letting their pain and loss bleed into your own heart.

 

Grieving together, bearing the unbearable, is an act of transformation: It brings survivors into the healing process, creates new relationships,

 and energizes the demand for justice. 

 

To fight is to tap into your own sense of agency to protect yourself and others. The fight impulse is ancient and fundamental. It is biological. Sometimes we fight to protect who or what we love, and other times we fight with those we love. The question is how we choose to fight.

 

Any act to change the world around us begins within us. It starts with a sense of agency, a sense that we have the power to effect change.

The Latin root of the word ‘power’ means ‘to be able’

 

•Who or what would you fight for, or fight to protect?

•What is your “sword”? What can you use to fight on behalf of others?

•What is your “shield”? What can you use to protect yourself and others?

•What is your “dilruba”? What centers you?

 

 

See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto

of Revolutionary Love, Valarie Kaur 2020