I’m writing this blog post on April 4, which Instagram tells me is Jane Goodall’s birthday and this quote of hers came up in my feed:
“I do have reasons for hope: our clever brains, the resilience of nature, the indomitable human spirit, and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action.”
This felt particularly poignant because, if you didn’t hear or see the news from the weekend, there was a mass shooting in Downtown Sacramento, which hits incredibly close to home for me. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Napa recently (on account of my husband Jeremy’s job), but it so happened that I was out in Downtown Sacramento on Saturday night. The shooting happened early Sunday morning. Blocks from where I had been.
I literally woke up on Sunday morning to a text message from a friend asking if I was ok.
What the fuck, universe?
(Side note: I have received comments on my blog posts in the past when I’ve used explicit language. In this case, it’s definitely warranted. Please do not message me about my use of language. Thank you.)
As if we don’t have enough to worry about right now. The war in Ukraine. The lingering precautions of the pandemic. Inflation. Shit, some people I follow online don’t know how they will afford gas to drive themselves to their job, where they work, to earn money, to buy gas for their car, so they can continue to drive to work…
It wasn’t long ago that I wrote this weekly email about why beauty still matters. It was the week after Russia invaded Ukraine. And now this. Does beauty still matter?
Absolutely it does.
More than ever.
And that is why I love this quote from Jane Goodall so much: it reminded me of a reason to hope and appreciate beauty. Without beauty, we would forget about the resiliency of the human spirit. Without beauty, the world would be so so dark, and the only thing for us to give our attention to would be wars and mass shootings.
I don’t want to live in that kind of world, do you?
We need beauty now more than ever.
We need your story now more than ever.
If you have been wondering if your story matters. If is relevant. If anyone will want to read what you have to say.
The answer is a resounding YES.
I am shouting: YES PEOPLE NEED YOUR STORY.
It is how we remember the resiliency of the human spirit.
That’s all I have to say today.