This 5 o’Clock Somewhere column has been so much fun to write and research. The whole concept is an escape, a way towards little light at the end of the week’s tunnel. But what do you do when the light at the end of the tunnel feels like train headlights bearing down on you? What about when the headlines from the news feel like they could wrap themselves around your throat and wring tears from your eyes?
This has been such a weighty week in so many ways.
This week my usual sense of celebration for making it through feels dimmed by sobering global reality. From Haiti to Afghanistan, Turkey and Greece to the west coast where fires rage unabated, to overwhelmed hospitals across America, the headlines this week were devastating and heartbreaking. The barrage of sadness called to mind one of my favorite poems, What They Did Yesterday Afternoon by Warsan Shire. This week called to mind one my favorite Bob Marley songs, So Much Trouble in the World. The weight of so much worldwide pain, sadness, and struggle is profound.
Raise a toast to remember and honor all of those we have lost, in all the myriad ways we may have lost them.
