Sadness. Sadness that disturbs sleep. Sadness that adjectives cannot amplify. Just sadness.
Other emotions stir, too. Disbelief, grief, anger, rage, fear – and feelings that have no names. They collide in a mental kaleidoscope whose shards know only the grimmer shades of gray and black.
But sadness dominates. Just sadness.
Sadness for a man whose tempers have often stilled a disbelieving world, whose disregard for the rituals of office has often astonished, and whose self-regard has always blinded him to the needs of others, including the 330 million souls he was to serve. Just sadness.
Sadness for the often hurting people this towering, yet emotionally tiny man has drawn to himself, whose last veils of civility he has ripped, whose violence he has encouraged. Just sadness.
Sadness for the institutions, already discredited by their failure to address human need, now teetering before mobs abetted by public servants who ignore facts to promote their craven self-interest. Just sadness.
Sadness for the country, which cannot heal while the carcinogen remains. Just sadness.
We need not sleep. End this madness. Just lift our sadness.
