Love Amidst All
Today, as I look at the freshly fallen snow and the calm sea, I am drawn into the practice of noticing the beauty that exists.
I am fresh off a visit with my cousin and my beloved aunt. At 91, she became a snowbird—fleeing the Maine winter for points south in hopes of warming her bones and discovering new vistas. There was much to discuss.
Her life is bookended by World War II and this moment in American history. Her perspective is wisdom forged in the fire of more than nine decades of lived experience. As a woman and social worker in the 1950s and ’60s, a mother, a wife, and a student of life, she is my North Star—an example of a life well lived. She hopes people can see that while we have much to be grateful for, there is still much work to be done. The elders and the ancestors have spoken.
Rather than retreat into the comfort of my own condition, it is time to consider more courageous action rooted in community. How can I be part of the solution rather than simply outraged by the problem?
It is in the tension between these competing realities that life is lived. Now—in the second moon cycle of 2026—so much of what exists beyond this self-soothing vista feels almost too hard to contemplate. Yet contemplate we must.
What is going on? Armed squads roaming cities. Extrajudicial roundups catching working people and families in the nets of injustice. American citizens killed in the streets for exercising their constitutional rights. We are all seeing it—now what?
Folks are waking up—awakened from a self-serving dream into a nightmarish present that is, nevertheless, a call to action. A call to work for the greater good. A call to stand up to injustice with kindness, acts of service, and love.
This moment brings an opportunity for deep reflection—inner calm as the fuel for peaceful, courageous, loving action. Love quiets the stress and alarm triggered by the state of what is. And what I see are neighbors helping neighbors—both known and unknown. I see peaceful protest. I hear music, songs, book groups, worship, people standing up for “We the People.”
The seeds of change are germinating within us—bursting forth with evolutionary compassion and love’s fierce resolve. A time to say yes. This is real. This is hard. And we must meet this moment with clear-eyed conviction, reckoning with who we are and how we move through this—from the era of Me to the generation of We.
Art. Music. Dancing. Kindness. Inclusion. Understanding. Curiosity. Questions. Listening. Gratitude. And standing up—in peace, justice, and liberty for all.
Come and join us. Among other things, we welcome world-class performing artists into our community, offering a place of respite and beauty—a place to recharge and simply be in the midst of something inspiring and joyous. Together, we are creating the kind of community we want to live in, one day at a time, for the benefit of all.