Hi friends,
I hope you cherish the beautiful moments in your life, however small they are. I am noting some down from the past week, the week where war broke between Russia and Ukraine.
One:
I saw two baby goats in the urban farm on a cold and windy winter morning: one of them so adorable and sensitive. He was looking at me as I stopped and looked at him, as if he saw me. He has caramel colored markings on his head and his butt. He is about 6 months old. He is a happy little thing eating and jumping at his own will. He took away my human woes. He had my heart.
Two:
I wrote in my notebook what I want from my two characters.
“I want them to crush into each other, mend and heal together. It is a book about grief, love, friendship and the small miracles of daily life.”
Three:
Notes on healthy relationships (applies to friendship too)
- You need to feel comfortable around each other. You need to be able to be yourself. You need to feel accepted.
- The foundation needs to be a mutual friendship built upon respect, compassion, humility, follow-through, trust and open communication.
- You have healthy conflicts and boundaries.
- You have aligned value systems.
- You invest in a “Us” experience instead of a “I” experience
Four:
I wept on Thursday morning to the news of war. I called my person. He tried his best to comfort me. I wept some more. He told me stories he read about the war. One story was about a 18 year old Russian boy getting enlisted. He has a girlfriend. He was doing what boys do at that age: drinking with friends, kissing girls… His social media account is filled with personal records of just that. Now, he has a gun in his hand and killing is what he will be doing. He might die. His life has been changed. The damage and cost of war is carried by regular people like him, by regular people like you and I. The rich and powerful becomes richer and more powerful. Armories are being sold as I type; lives gone. I wept some more to this somber reality.
Stop the war. Please stop it. The destruction. Devastation. Loss. Pain. Hurt. Stop it.
I am hurting friends. I read another story about a school teacher from Ukraine crying and picking up the gun to defend her own country. She was doing grocery shopping last weekend. She got apples. Apples she won’t be able to eat.
I will keep on creating. Join me. Let’s fight destruction with the one thing that we will never stop doing: creating and building and loving.
May you be light in the darkness.
x.y.zheng
