Dear Friends,

I hope these words reach you well. I’ve been forming this message for a while now, and I’m sending it encased in a bottle of hope. Each word is a tiny piece of balsa wood in our model sailboat.

This is a delicate message. I pray it does not break before it reaches you.

Keep reminding yourselves
that the world is beautiful.

Keep reminding yourselves
that people are good.

Keep reminding yourselves
that life is a precious gift.

We will only change this world
through our willingness to love.

Our ship is not sinking; this I promise you. Our ties bind us closer than ever before. We are not failing. We are not losing. We are patching our sails, filling the holes in our hull, and raising the anchor. This ship will sail again on the winds of love and compassion. We will always rebuild what is destroyed; this, I promise you.

Keep reminding yourselves to smile.

Keep your chin up, as they say, and
meet anger and hatred head-on.
Embrace those who would do you harm.
Smother evil with kindness.
Shine light into the darkest recesses
of our collective human condition.
Bare your heart to the world
and let your love shine
like the blinding center of the universe.
Burn so brightly with happiness
that every black hole in the cosmos collapses.
Overload the darkness.
Challenge them to contain you.
Do not be afraid to wear your heart on your sleeve.

In fact, let your heart grow so large that it encapsulates your entire body. You will glow. You are starlight. Tattoo love upon your body without a single drop of ink. Your every step will carve compassion into the collapsing hearts of those losing hope. The surface of this earth is ready to shake and tremble with your magnificent strides. Eyes open, hearts open wider, and we will make a difference.

We will sail onward into the blackness. It shall never contain us.