Here

 The war rages on,

Another casualty

No surrender, none. 

We knew, we knew in 2016, that awful November morning when the bombs dropped so silently.  No one wants to think, and never can quite believe, that it will happen, that it has happened, that life will not be the same, that the unimaginable just dropped on your lives.  Even when you know, you have imagined, it shocks. That evil has triumphed, and is gloating over your torn and naked body, and worse is to come. 

We must hold on to our strength, and our sanity, and we must endure until we are in a place to fight. We don't know, most of us, what we can do, will need to do, not yet. The wars rage on, and we have gained ground, and it is not all lost, but who do we trust? We see our neighbors in far worse shape, but we also know, it could be us, next. Will be, if we don't succeed in pushing out the violence, the terrorists, the propaganda, the small minded tyrants. It's happened before. 

It's happened before, and yet, there is a way forward. The pattern repeats, destruction and degradation, followed by change and renewal. We must remember, we must endure. 

There are no magic wands and no time machines. We have what we have right now, and go from here.