For those of us who feel deeply

On caring for yourself in the face of collective grief and generational trauma

I am overwhelmed with grief as I watch tragedy unfold across the world.

This week, a mass shooter killed and injured dozens of innocent people in Lewiston, Maine, a mile away from where I went to college, at Bates. My heart breaks for the whole community that I once called home. The shooter was a member of the U.S. Army Reserve who was assigned to a base nearby. Earlier this summer, while in a mental health facility, he reported “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base. Why was this man able to access a gun? Why are we forced to endure endless possibilities for such violence while lawmakers pray for change they’re unwilling to make?

We are witnessing unbearable pain in the Middle East. There is unimaginable Jewish grief as people mourn Hamas’ Oct 7 attack, the hostages who remain captured, and the rise of antisemitism worldwide. There is unimaginable Palestinian grief as Gaza is obliterated in one of the most intense bombings of the 21st century, taking place in rough…