metonymy4u

As the years of suffering add up and whisk on by, I have learned to welcome sadness as a part of me, something that in fact the best part of me creates through its sacred and noble effort. For if we didn’t desire anything in our heart of hearts, would anything affect us in any way? Instead of pushing away grief, can we yet learn to speak to it in a different voice? The voice that addresses all living creatures as members of one extended family? I will call that tree my brother and that flower my sister, the elephants and the crows my mothers and fathers, the tree sloth, the crab and the koala–my cousins and my grandchildren. For they all suffer just like me. They are all sad, happy, angry, alarmed, despondent and hopeful every day of their lives. The emotion that cannot be part of me is no emotion that could ever be borne by the heart of any living creature. So welcome sadness and come hither, you are part of me and belong with me and henceforth I will not refuse to speak to you in any far flung corner of the living universe.