1997.

While she couldn’t read the letters, there were stories in the cracks of the spine and the smell of the pages and the way the jacket feels under your fingers.

Sometimes, an initial bit of courage is all that’s needed to get you going. Summon that strength, and allow it to propel you forwards. You’ve got this.

We have to continue to practice mindfulness and reconciliation until we can see a child’s body of skin and bones in Uganda or Ethiopia as our own, until the hunger and pain in the bodies of all species are our own. Then we will have realised nondiscrimination, real love. Then we can look at all beings with the eyes of compassion, and we can do the real work to help alleviate suffering.