I remember when I was fourteen. It was the year 2020, which is a hard year to forget. But of all of the awful things that happened, the memory that is most etched into my mind is the thought that I had each morning when I woke up. How will I ever make it through? It was a vague question--but that was intentional. That was because it applied to nearly everything that worried me.

How would I make it through the week when it felt like a I had a hand grasping my heart that squeezed whenever I did something wrong? And how would I stop doing wrong, because every moment felt like it? How would I ever get to go to college? How would I ever stop hating myself? How would I ever be happy? When would I finally figure things out? When would it all end? The pandemic, the hate, the killings, the injustice, the starving, and me. How will I ever make it through?

If I could go back and tell my younger self how I made it through, how I got to this year 2060, I wouldn't know what to tell them. But I would tell them that the year 2060 is worth sticking it out for. I believe that it is the ultimate example of the old saying that bad things happen so beautiful things can emerge. Because that's what now is. Beautiful

It's not perfect. By far. And what needs to be understood is that it never will be. What's beautiful about it is that we are united. A united world that's in recovery from all of the horrible things that we've put each other through. We've seen the error of our ways. We've made our apologies and reparations and condolences. We see the result of our errors everyday. We see it in the ocean that has eaten away entire states and countries. In the fires that swallow houses and people and livelihoods. In the burning heat that consumes entire months. We're reminded by the statues erected of the innocents lives taken. By the beautiful murals. By the education system that has finally, finally, acknowledged the truth of the horrors that affect people to this very day. We're reminded by the laws that have been formed to condemn those who kill based on color.

We will continue to make errors because we are human. That's just the way it is. But also because we are human, we will make it through.