237

all parts.

children are beautiful, simple and complex. bright little buds in tentative, exuberant bloom. they are all of us in miniature. exploring the world with big hearts and small hands, messy and imperfect. do not edit the manuscript as it’s being written. children just want to be loved. and they need to be held. look at me; see me. teach me; i want to learn.

the animals just want to survive, to see another day. their rules are simple: live and let live. even as they eat one another and tear their own limbs to be free. earth, water and sky; this is all they need. hunt, forage and scavenge; they eat from the ground, out of the trash, taking what they need, though never to steal. have mercy, for the world i know is cruel. even as the seasons and cycles bear no malice.

the enemy you find in family, and within your own ranks, seeks only for weakness. helping you break so that you may heal. how else would you learn? i’m here to make you stronger. you do not know who you are without your adversary.

holding tight to their hopes, fears and dreams, people reflect and regret in the privacy of their own lives. planting seeds and reaping the harvest. they learn and grow, even if it’s slow. even if the lessons are few and hard-won. facing the horizon with eyes to the sky, we are the bits and pieces of God, wandering flotsam and jetsam, strewn loosely about the earth.

and you? just be a person. within all of us are the children, the animals, the enemy. hold each part gently, with love and every kindness. you do not need to solve the mystery, only to see it without breaking.