Thanks for this beautiful essay, Sally. I share your hopes for peace and love and an end to hate and bloodshed. Alas, while I want to feel hopeful, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to sustain that hope.

Look away from Israel and Gaza, and there is war in Ukraine. Look anywhere in the world and somewhere, innocents are dying in wars, being forced from their homes or in desperate need of life-saving aid. Has it ever been otherwise?

I want to feel hopeful, I'm not sure I can.