I wrote a blessing this week as I wrap up my Witness fellowship, honoring the tradition of Elie Wiesel.
It applies to all of us.
What we may be witnesses to ourselves, just as we witness the suffering in the world.
May we also be witnesses to our true emotions, the emotions that come with caring and truly seeing.
May we remember— as this fellowship has taught us — that witnessing itself is an act of love and the true foundation.
May we not force flowers, but honor the real timing of things.
May we not open the box before it is ready. May we find patience and grace in the deepest corners of our own darkness.
May we continue the slow plod in the garden, one step taken after another. May we honor real grief and real heartbreak. May we allow confusion to fill our cavities the way light fills a room.
May we not abandon ourselves. And when we do—— may we return quickly, and without cruelty.
May we stay with ourselves. May we practice awareness toward ourselves the way we have practiced witness toward each other.
May we be witnesses to our own transformation.
May we know that love is ours. That art is ours. That all of the tools and community are ours — and that is not changing.
And may we sit —
quietly,
in the stillness at the center of everything.