Look to community. Look to friends and family who stood with us and who suffer the grief of this loss with us. In their company find comfort. And when you are ready to stand up and fight, I will be with you, too.

We will prevail. For the light always defeats the darkness. /end

So don’t give up hope. Do not despair. That is what they want, and we shall not give them that satisfaction. In Japanese, there is a word my mother used to say to me.

“Gaman, Georgie,” she’d say. It means to endure with fortitude and dignity. We all could benefit the spirit of Gaman. /5