It seems safe to assume that most of us are feeling pretty overwhelmed with the state of things. I’m not trying to share a cute soybean photo to try to take your mind off the many horrifying realities we’re grappling with, or to implore you to remember the beauty that’s still around us. I don’t think a reminder like this can counterbalance the heaviness, regardless of how well meaning the sentiment. At times, an awareness of beauty exacerbates the pain, grief and rage. To admire a small bundle of roots, to know that these plants will host bacteria who will go on to transform atmospheric nitrogen into a form that will nourish the well being of so many organisms allows us entry into a wholly different perspective. We can experience order that’s mutualistic, we can appreciate organization that understands the fundamental importance of cooperation and synergy. It makes the systems we live within seem all that more unreasonable and senseless. Sustained encounters with this sort of wonder can deepen our resilience though. Repeated acts of care and devotion yield tenacity. They foster determination and a conviction to be accountable to each other’s survival. These seedlings will find their way into soil, much of it impacted by a number of problems that will inhibit their roots and stress them. We’ll plant, and re-plant and scrutinize details because we can’t imagine a summer without their company. We'll spend 130 days thinking of the seasons that accumulated into centuries where these beans were carefully tended, at times against great odds. In damaged, out of balance contexts, we can commit ourselves to keeping each other alive. The beauty doesn’t buoy us or unburden our hearts and minds, but it can ground us, and cement our resolve. Really all I’m trying to say is, hang in there, I’m rooting for you