I read the news, and a weariness settles deep within. Heavy words line the page, black print against stark white, blurring and tumbling into a wave of dismay that roils through my mind.

“You are not equipped to handle this,” a voice whispers from somewhere deep inside.

Who is?

Turmoil. Angst. Anger. Fear. These are the emotions that dominate the day.

Tariff wars. Gun wars. Drug wars.

So many wars distort my view of the sun, so many words barricade my heart, holding it hostage in despair.

“Stop reading,” the voice insists.

My heart flutters. Can I? Should I?

What if, in stopping, I become blind to the suffering? What if I become numb to the pain? What if I succumb to the lie that I am powerless?

I am adrift, devoid of answers that can calm the turbulent seas. Seas that overturn lifeboats of global treaties and trade routes. Seas full of angry waves rolling across the land, drowning reason, flooding communities and destroying communities, families, lives and so much more.

I feel powerless to shift the mindsets that perpetuate the illusion of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ Them out there, whose ways are different but no less valid. Them who speak a foreign tongue or worship at a different altar. Them whose histories are etched with the struggle to rise from poverty, flee violence, find safety, only to face more barriers. Them who are, simply, different.

Yet, I am not powerless to keep my mind open, my heart soft, and my back strong.

I am not powerless in the face of injustice, cruelty, chaos.

I choose to stand true to the belief that we are all important, all matter on this big, round ball circling the sun, year after year. Our orbit is the same as theirs. Our planet, one.

I must step away from the relentless scroll and focus on what I, one individual, can do to create calm in a world of chaos.

That is my mission for today. To plant seeds of kindness, to offer a hand, to listen with empathy. To find the small acts of love that ripple outwards.