Te amo

“All you have to do is write 1 true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” Ernest Hemingway

On an uninspiring February weekend I turned towards the greats for some direction. Although not favored by all I love the story of Hemingway’s swashbuckling life and his writing. What is the truest sentence I know, I wonder, and who is my true self. The truest thing I know, besides what I have come to understand about love, is what happens if you plant a seed. The knowledge and ability of Mother Nature and her natural world could never mislead us, even in her harshness she has been honest. Truer things are those that appeal to the senses, the smell of the lilac and the sound of the cello. These offerings are sacred, they ring the same bells as the libraries, museums, national parks, and theaters. During a time of such distrust going on in our world, I’ll remind you of where to find the truth. It’s at the bottom of a steaming bowl of salty chicken noodle soup, enjoyed beneath the soft weight of an old quilt. It’s in the attempts to speak Spanish with your local Mexican servers who brings you rounds of chips and salsa, and fat margaritas, the goodness of sharing culture. There is truth that the heart benefits when we accept people that are different than us, diversity is healthy for the human ecosystem, just as it is for the wolves in the wild.

We can see hatred on the faces of the hateful, their expressions curled into ugliness over time comes to the surface so they can’t hide forever. Those folks are not the sacred ones, instead listen for the voices of Mr. Rogers and the characters from Sesame Street, watch John Candy inspire Olympic athletes to finish the race, or find the picture of the Kentucky Governor posing with drag queens because he believes that ALL of us are children of God. I think I saw the truest sentence ever this weekend in bold letters above the performing stage of the Super Bowl “the only thing more powerful than hate is love.” The trueness of this sentence is freedom, how free we all are to decide who we’re gonna spend our lives being, and a warning of the power of hate and the destruction it can lead to.

May this lend a flutter of hope into your hearts the way the Latin American culture has fluttered within my heart tonight.

Please, reach out because I DO love to chat!

readnwrite11@gmail.com