thank you sophie. i’m feeling so brokenhearted today. trying my best to take care of myself and my family and friends. trying my best to face this day. your words are a balm, and i am grateful you took the time to send this message to us today. 💖
"The last thing I want to say to you is this: there’s a difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is choosing to believe that things will turn out well, while hope is focusing on the paths that are, indeed, possible, and taking the physical and mental steps towards clearing those paths. Optimistic people don’t fare much better than pessimistic people in terms of long-term health outcomes and overall survival. Hopeful people, though, do. This is science."
Thank you so much Sophie for these beautiful words and wisdom. Today is heartbreaking and a hard pill to swallow. All my love and best to each person struggling to find their way through the future. May you land each day a little more gently than the previous one. 🙌
Well— as you rightly say, sometimes it can be helpful to remember we are animals. I wonder if it’s helpful at times like this to remember that we are also primates?
I read Desmond Morris say that if you put a lot of chimps in a city, they’d all get extremely distressed— they wouldn’t be able to process the millions of other chimps which were around them, and probably dangerous.
And we are able to live in cities, but often that distress is still there. Something like being stuck in a cramped space with loads of unfamiliar members of your species is a stressful thing for any primate to have to do.
And as primates we’re social animals, so we need to be part of a community: it’s one of the ways we’re able to live in these giant cities at all. So on days like this, you become aware that there are completely different communities around you— who think very different things, many of which are horrifying, and some of which put you in danger. The base distress is still there, but it grows: you’re aware that the unfamiliar faces all around you may be dangerous like they were not before.
But I do think we still need to stick together, because it’s something we need to do if any of us are to survive. Still, I think to ask that of ourselves is incredibly difficult, maybe even cruel. What we ask of humans is a lot to ask of any animal. So I think that’s a reason to be deserving of enormous compassion, and to make it possible to feel it for yourself? But I’m not sure how helpful that is.
Thanks Sophie, this is just what I needed. I woke up in the night but was comforted by my sweet cat. I avoided the news until morn. So bummed about PA, sucks being in a swing state.
Thank you, Sophie. Listening to this is such a comfort. The love you have for this small community is such a beautiful thing. And I hope I can do for someone what you did for me right now as a listener; I want to spread the same love I feel right now from this community and make someone else feel a little less alone today, tomorrow, and beyond. Hard times ahead but so much love to spread out there in this big, wonderful world.
I’m so glad your kids have you as a teacher to help them process. ❤️
I’ve been thinking so much about community and love and friendship and loneliness since Tuesday. I feel like maybe we can all take one or two steps towards one another again that maybe we wouldn’t have had Kamala won? Like maybe we thought we would have been safe, and then we would have continued down the path of individualism that we’ve mostly all been on for years. I am hopeful that now those of us who are sad and scared and angry about Tuesday can wake up (those of us like me, who maybe have been a little bit asleep) and turn towards one another. This absolutely sucks but at least now maybe we can build something new and better for one another. I don’t know. I just know I feel more awake now and I’m sorry I was so complacent before.
This issue said things I did not know how to say. I really didn't want to talk about it, but I did think that Kamala worked hard and for good reason. Sophie's comments helped a lot. I really do love America, and I want be part of it. So we move on. But not far from where we were. God Bless America, I guess. Love, Loretta
thank you sophie. i’m feeling so brokenhearted today. trying my best to take care of myself and my family and friends. trying my best to face this day. your words are a balm, and i am grateful you took the time to send this message to us today. 💖
Im grateful for you, too. I hope your friends also take care of you and themselves. (As a sort of friend, I’ll try!)
dear sophie,
thank you for all of this, and especially this:
"The last thing I want to say to you is this: there’s a difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is choosing to believe that things will turn out well, while hope is focusing on the paths that are, indeed, possible, and taking the physical and mental steps towards clearing those paths. Optimistic people don’t fare much better than pessimistic people in terms of long-term health outcomes and overall survival. Hopeful people, though, do. This is science."
thank you for science and love!
love
myq
Thank you so much Sophie for these beautiful words and wisdom. Today is heartbreaking and a hard pill to swallow. All my love and best to each person struggling to find their way through the future. May you land each day a little more gently than the previous one. 🙌
Thank you for this. But I thought Obama won in 2008 (I am in the UK so may just be confused!).
OMG THIS IS SO TRUE. Sleepless brain syndrome! I’ll update the post online
Hope tonight is more restful!
It also now makes more sense to me why she said this in class. We were too happy! I still think I felt silenced but it makes more sense now.
I was trying to figure that out too, as I knew he’d won in 2008 😅
My little gang of third graders are not okay today either. They had hope. Now they have less.
Thank you for providing this light. The poem. The song.
Well— as you rightly say, sometimes it can be helpful to remember we are animals. I wonder if it’s helpful at times like this to remember that we are also primates?
I read Desmond Morris say that if you put a lot of chimps in a city, they’d all get extremely distressed— they wouldn’t be able to process the millions of other chimps which were around them, and probably dangerous.
And we are able to live in cities, but often that distress is still there. Something like being stuck in a cramped space with loads of unfamiliar members of your species is a stressful thing for any primate to have to do.
And as primates we’re social animals, so we need to be part of a community: it’s one of the ways we’re able to live in these giant cities at all. So on days like this, you become aware that there are completely different communities around you— who think very different things, many of which are horrifying, and some of which put you in danger. The base distress is still there, but it grows: you’re aware that the unfamiliar faces all around you may be dangerous like they were not before.
But I do think we still need to stick together, because it’s something we need to do if any of us are to survive. Still, I think to ask that of ourselves is incredibly difficult, maybe even cruel. What we ask of humans is a lot to ask of any animal. So I think that’s a reason to be deserving of enormous compassion, and to make it possible to feel it for yourself? But I’m not sure how helpful that is.
I’ve been repeating another Mary Oliver poem in my head these past two days, Wild Geese. It is also speaking to me in this moment https://www.poetry.com/poem/123017/wild-geese
Love and care xoxo
wild geese is my absolute favorite poem. 💖
I also woke up around 2 and just KNEW deep down. Who else did???
Thanks Sophie, this is just what I needed. I woke up in the night but was comforted by my sweet cat. I avoided the news until morn. So bummed about PA, sucks being in a swing state.
Thank you, Sophie. Listening to this is such a comfort. The love you have for this small community is such a beautiful thing. And I hope I can do for someone what you did for me right now as a listener; I want to spread the same love I feel right now from this community and make someone else feel a little less alone today, tomorrow, and beyond. Hard times ahead but so much love to spread out there in this big, wonderful world.
❤️❤️❤️
I’m so glad your kids have you as a teacher to help them process. ❤️
I’ve been thinking so much about community and love and friendship and loneliness since Tuesday. I feel like maybe we can all take one or two steps towards one another again that maybe we wouldn’t have had Kamala won? Like maybe we thought we would have been safe, and then we would have continued down the path of individualism that we’ve mostly all been on for years. I am hopeful that now those of us who are sad and scared and angry about Tuesday can wake up (those of us like me, who maybe have been a little bit asleep) and turn towards one another. This absolutely sucks but at least now maybe we can build something new and better for one another. I don’t know. I just know I feel more awake now and I’m sorry I was so complacent before.
Also, Mary Oliver is always a balm for the weary!
As always, thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you.
This issue said things I did not know how to say. I really didn't want to talk about it, but I did think that Kamala worked hard and for good reason. Sophie's comments helped a lot. I really do love America, and I want be part of it. So we move on. But not far from where we were. God Bless America, I guess. Love, Loretta