A Common Tenderness

Art by Rebecca J. Hartman

Pablo Neruda wrote, “I still have absolute faith in human destiny, a clearer and clearer conviction that we are approaching a great common tenderness.” He continued, “At this critical moment, in this flicker of anguish, we know that the light will enter those eyes that are vigilant. We shall all understand one another. We shall advance together. And this hope cannot be crushed.”

I understand his “flicker of anguish,” though today it is much more than a flicker. I feel as if I am in St. John of the Cross’s “dark night of the soul.” Today I do not have “absolute faith” in human destiny or human institutions. And though I truly love the idea of “approaching a great common tenderness,” this ideal eludes me following a brutal political season in which forces align against our values and crises stalk us, and in this crucial week of living, though I am working and hoping for the gift of ordinary days, tender days, days of peace and justice, I need other voices to reassure me and lift me back onto my feet.