This week’s column reflects on the way personal and community disasters bring us face to face with loss, while recalling some ancient wisdom.  What do we bring into the world and what do we take?  Nothing.  This can be depressing, yet potentially liberating.

Here’s an excerpt from “Bring Nothing, Take Nothing”:

Whether we believe in “acts of God” or not, natural events can shake our belief in stability and security. We may find that we most treasure each other, confident that resilient humanity will endure, through both dreams and nightmares. The dreamlike disturbance of disasters can make us humbly aware that, sooner or later, we must leave it all behind.

Read the full column this weekend.

Photo:  fallen giant.  one of the thousands of trees that came down after Hurricane Helene slammed through our area