<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5">Belief</font><div dir="ltr"></div><div><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5"><br></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5">So I can’t save the world— <br style="box-sizing: border-box;">can’t save even myself,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">can’t wrap my arms around<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">every frightened child, can’t<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">foster peace among nations,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">can’t bring love to all who<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">feel unlovable.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">So I practice opening my heart<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">right here in this room and being gentle<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">with my insufficiency. I practice<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">walking down the street heart first.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">And if it is insufficient to share love,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">I will practice loving anyway.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">I want to converse about truth,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">about trust. I want to invite compassion<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">into every interaction.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">One willing heart can’t stop a war.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">I tell myself what’s the use of trying?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">But today, the invitation is clear:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">to be ridiculously courageous in love.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">To open the heart like a lilac in May,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">knowing freeze is possible<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">and opening anyway.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">To take love seriously.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">To give love wildly.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">To race up to the world<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">as if I were a puppy,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">adoring and unjaded,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">stumbling on my own exuberance.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">To feel the shock of indifference,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">of anger, of cruelty, of fear,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">and stay open. To love as if it matters,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">as if the world depends on it</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5"><br></font></div><div><font size="5"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer</font></div></div></body></html>