Love at all cost.

I understand on a very deep level why peaceful negotiations are an extremely difficult task. Start with two people, their outlooks drastically different. Each one convinced that their path is the absolute and only. Now mix in personal history, what they ate for lunch, and a trip to the DMV and you have a terrific combination of raw emotion. It is always important for one to speak their own truth. What I hope for the world is that we speak with compassion. We imagine ourselves the receiver of our truth and we reexamine how our message comes across. For in the end it is not about who is truly right or wrong, but how we speak to each other in the face of adversity. The words we speak stick around for a long time.
Just like plastic...

I have a grandmother who is about to turn 97.  She is agile, and could outlive us all. Her stories are amazing. But one just sums her up. My grandfather passed away several years ago. He was failing for awhile mentally and it was a great strain on her. Some days she would feel really tired and down, but she never let herself get swallowed in. Instead she would get herself together and head to the supermarket. Not to buy things. Just to smile at people. Some would be taken aback, but they always smiled in return. And her spirit lifted again. That is love. And so is this picture.