we are all in this together

for one human being to love another, that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
-rainer maria rilke

a modified excerpt from my journal this morning:
...and what have i learned here?! i may not have changed the world in a huge way, but i am learning about humans, about life, about the struggle. i am learning how sensitive i am, how reliant on close relationships, the capacity that i have to look beyond surface definitions or situations and truly forgive, the power that we all have to hurt one another, even without meaning to, in fact, most always without wanting to. i am learning the true power of human connections, the beauty in broken relationships, because they are all broken. we are all hurt, bent, twisted, broken, beautiful. but then again, we all do the best with what we have--and i truly believe that. that is the one thing that keeps beauty in the world--the drive, the push to continue, even through the struggle...and the desire, the need to reach out to another. the need to step outside ourselves in a trivial act of solidarity. to break the barrier, let someone in, and know that we are all in this together.