Dem
51
GOP
49
We're still working out a few of the kinks that delayed the Sunday mailbag, so "reasons for optimism" will run tomorrow. For now, an optimism amuse bouche courtesy of T.W. in Norfolk, England, UK:
Love and empathy are the ultimate time machine.
We read or hear stories about those we've never met, and we care about their welfare and their happy endings. We learn about boys that went to war a century ago and we ache for their families and their fear. And then we rejoice in their safe return home or grieve for their loss, even though we've never once met them.
For those more personal to us, we love them while they're with us, while they're away from us, and when they have passed on to the great beyond, we love them still in our shared stories and our memories. We love others even when we're estranged, as hard as that is to endure sometimes. We often love them even if we don't like them.
We also love those who have not yet been born and those we have not yet met, knowing that there is a space for them waiting in our hearts - unshaped, unseen but present nonetheless. It is a thread that reaches back from the unknown future, calling us forward. It need only be grasped. It carries with it hope, if we should choose to accept it.
The bond of love endures time, it reaches back infinitely and it reaches forward expectantly with a strength beyond that of any matter. It has no concept of distance.
Who says that our lives are linear? Love extends to all times in all places. With it we experience histories and futures and with it we grow bigger than we can ever be physically.
Scientists may say the universe is made of matter. I say it's made of love.
Happy Christmas
Not poetry, exactly, but poetic prose.
More tomorrow; send your submissions to comments@electoral-vote.com. (Z)