BecauseSo I can’t save the world—can’t save even myself,can’t wrap my arms aroundevery frightened child, can’tfoster peace among nations,can’t bring love to all whofeel unlovable.So I practice opening my heartright here in this room and being gentlewith my insufficiency. I practicewalking down the street heart first.And if it is insufficient to share love,I will practice loving anyway.I want to converse about truth,about trust. I want to invite compassioninto every interaction.One willing heart can’t stop a war.One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,I tell myself what’s the use of trying?But today, the invitation is clear:to be ridiculously courageous in love.To open the heart like a lilac in May,knowing freeze is possibleand opening anyway.To take love seriously.To give love wildly.To race up to the worldas if I were a puppy,adoring and unjaded,stumbling on my own exuberance.To feel the shock of indifference,of anger, of cruelty, of fear,and stay open. To love as if it matters,as if the world depends on it.-by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
