W is for Weeping and Wailing

January 26, 2026

“We are capable of suffering with our world, and that is the true meaning of compassion. It enables us to recognize our profound interconnectedness with all beings. Don't ever apologize for crying for the trees burning in the Amazon or over the waters polluted from mines in the Rockies. Don't apologize for the sorrow, grief, and rage you feel. It is a measure of your humanity and your maturity. It is a measure of your open heart, and as your heart breaks open there will be room for the world to heal. That is what is happening as we see people honestly confronting the sorrows of our time."

~ Joanna Macy

Have you had moments in your life when you fell to your knees, weeping and wailing? You felt inconsolable, grief-stricken? Heart-broken?

I have had such moments. And I am there right now. I am certain that, sadly, I am not alone.

I wish I had answers, good solid answers that would lead to a cessation of the cruelty and chaos we are witnessing multiple times a day. The lies and distortions and twists of reality. I don’t.

So what do we do? How are we humans to live in these times?

We must name, acknowledge what we are experiencing.

My weeping and wailing rise from grief, sadness, and rage. Grief and sadness that I must not let numb or paralyze me, must not let me descend into darkness. Rage that I have to find a healthy constructive way to express.

Please please let yourself be human. Our human constitution is not made to respond in a healthy way to the constant “flooding the zone” with misinformation and lies, to gaslighting verbal and actual physical assaults. Our nervous systems shut down or go haywire if we allow constant exposure to the terrible things that are going on.

We must find that tricky balance of staying awake and aware, acting in ways that are meaningful and helpful and fitting for who we are, and protecting ourselves and our loved ones the best that we can.

And please remind yourself, all of us, that our nation, imperfect as it has certainly been in fully realizing its original ideals, was established in such a way that people - you and I - have the power. We have the power to influence what is happening. Change will be slow, and often invisible to the eye. But we can do it.

May our weeping and wailing, our grief and rage, fuel us as we resist the daily horrors and create - or rediscover - loving and sustaining ways of being together.

And, in Joanna Macy’s words - “Don’t ever apologize for the sorrow, grief, and rage you feel.”

“Wailing in Rage”

Acrylic ink and paint on paper

January 26, 2026