I want to show you what I saw when I went to go pick up Brontë from school today. It’s a quick video. Just 11 seconds. That’s Brontë in the black dress, on the third swing to the right. The older kids in her class were running back and forth, pushing all the littler kids on the swings. Sometimes one or the other would get distracted and one of the little kids swings would start to slow. But none of the little kids ever even had to ask for help.
Instead, the big kid on the right shouted out orders, “Hey! It’s been too long since Brontë had a push!” The other two big kids always came running, “Sorry, Brontë!” Once, I heard Brontë say, “That’s all right! I knew you were coming.”
Taking care comes to us naturally. The need to care for one another has to be trained or beat or neglected out of us. Being cared for comes to us naturally too. The certainty that care is coming has to be trained or beat or neglected out of us.
I cried watching this little scene in a school. In Texas on Tuesday, so many children needed help and no one came. Tomorrow’s newsletter is about what I think that means for you and me. But today, I want us to remember that cruelty is learned. Care comes first, naturally.
I love you all. I really fucking do.
That's all right. I knew you were coming.