First of all, I did want to take a moment to thank all the veterans, especially my friends, for serving this country. Today was your day, I hope you know that we thank you for every single thing you do.

As someone who can always find the beauty in a sentence or just one small word, my writing means a lot to me and I take pride in sharing it with other people. Before I came here to Cal Poly, I committed myself to writing a blog post every week and sharing it with the people who care about what I have to say. It’s something I look forward to now; I’m usually kind of excited to write about my week or the little things I learn about myself and the world we live in. I guess the key word in that last sentence is usually.

Because this week, actually the past three weeks or so, I don’t know what to say.

Several of my previous posts came from something small that I decided last minute to write about, like hearing about my parents deciding to be healthier, or the fun and sometimes dangerous holiday of Halloween in college. Usually, I can find something to say and mean it, but this week, however, I am finding myself in a battle with the one and only writer’s block that I cannot seem to get past. I thought about writing something anyway, trying to force the words to flow from my fingers to the keys, but I don’t want to do that. I want what I say to be something I care about strongly enough that I don’t have to force it. I owe that much to you all.

I know it’s been a long week of unexpected plot twists in this reality we now hold, and one thing that I know I look forward to is writing these posts in a way that can offer some solace, some hope, or even just some understanding. Like I said though, I don’t quite have the words for that right now. So instead, I will say that in times like these when people are feeling isolated, let down, afraid, and uncertain, no matter what else might happen, it is important to stick with your people. I don’t mean your ethnicity, or your gender, or even your political party— I mean your people, the ones who are always there to hold you up. Because some things aren’t going to make sense and maybe there is really no way to change it. That doesn’t mean you have to endure it alone, that you are alone in this newfound reality. It’s what we all here for, to be united in this together.

I wish I had something more to say this week, a way to say all the things I know I could but cannot say
well enough in this moment. Instead I will share a quote from one of my favorite book series and hope it can be enough.

In the words of  Harry Potter’s Prisoner of Azkaban, “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.” Maybe we can all find not only happiness, but solace, in one another and remember that we are each other’s people, through and through, no matter what.