Ashes from a community destroyed by the Santa Rosa fire in 2017.
Photo by Gabrielle Lurie, San Francisco Chronicle
Her home was destroyed when the Santa Rosa wildfire roared through her neighborhood in western California. She and her family were unharmed, but she lost everything: useful things, things that are the keepers of memories, the things you love for no particular reason, clothes, furniture, all those things that were geared toward the future and new plans.
For months, she just concentrated on surviving. Then, gradually, she started returning to her charred community. She would ride her bike through the streets, sometimes feeling disoriented, because everything was so changed. She would stop and weep. The land seemed to hold her and enable her to tap into her sorrow in a way that was more difficult in other circumstances.
She also stopped whenever she encountered another person, someone who, like her, had returned “home” for the same compelling, if mysterious reason. Together, they told their stories, remembered together, grieved together. That shared grieving, they discovered, actually helped them to heal.
Is this Radical Joy for Hard Times? she wondered. Indisputably so. Because just facing the wound is the first act of beauty, bravery, and transformation.
MORE RADICAL JOY REVEALED
“There’s No Wounding Here”
Every now and then, around this time of year, in the weeks leading up to the Global Earth Exchange, someone emails to tell me they’d like to participate in our annual event of giving beauty [...]
Do It Though No One Notices
A young woman I know who lives in North Carolina considers herself an ardent environmental activist. She belongs to the Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society, works for an organization that runs therapeutic wilderness programs [...]
In Memory of a Cardinal
Radical Joy for Hard Times has always urged our members around the world to give attention and beauty to those places and beings that have meaning for them. It’s not necessary to seek out some [...]