I recently found myself reflecting on this quote after all the evil killing and lost of lives that have been happening in the world. Personally, I was scared. I was worried for my four-year-old baby brother, scared for the world he will grow up in. In a world where hate and violence are an everyday occurrence. Where hearing that someone was shot became as simple as hearing that someone fell off their bike.
But I thought about it again, this time with Jamie’s words in my head. My brother won’t grow up knowing the world that is only filled with hate and violence. He will learn to love and share because of his older siblings. He will learn to love life and every little wave that comes with it because of his supporting parents. And it won’t end there. Because he has learned these things he will go and show it to others. Showing them that everything will be okay. He will be that ‘living, breathing, screaming invitation to believe in better things’.
I don’t think that he will do this, I know he will because I have experienced and been a ‘living, breathing, screaming invitation to believe in better things’ too. There was a time where I didn’t think I was capable of a thing. I really wasn’t sure if ‘tomorrow’ was ever coming. But that night, I was reminded by some dear friends that there’s always a tomorrow, and tomorrow will bring bigger and better things. They reminded me by staying up late at night with me when I was sure the night was there to claim me. They talked to me hours on end about anything and everything. They sat with me, eating and crying through ice cream until the sun came up, promising a better tomorrow.
Eventually, when you take, you find yourself giving too. I found myself being that invitation for a better day – all which to this day, I’m very thankful for. I’m thankful for the vulnerability that was present during our 2 a.m. calls, both of us laughing and crying. I’m grateful for the raw human nature found in all of us that I was invited to witness. I think that’s why we need each other. To be our biggest supporters when we are broken and at our weakest moments, and to be our loudest cheerers when we are just a step closer to accomplishing our dreams.
