“We like lists because we don't want to die.”     ~ Umberto Eco

 Advice from the ex-con writer Gregory David Roberts, author of Shantaram, to all of us in our daily prison of our own making or of COVID-19

10) NEVER GIVE UP

We have no reason or right to give up.

The generations that came before us, that we carry within us, won’t let us give up.

The generations to come are relying on us never to give up.

Our human family has a sublime capacity to endure for one another and survive, and so far, we have carried the treasures of tenderness, caring and sharing through every terrible crisis that has ever confronted us.

We human beings are empathetic cooperators: when we stand together, nothing can stand against us; we are high-functioning adaptors: we can adapt to the arctic, the desert, below the sea and outer space; and we never give up.

In the church of my heart the choir is on fire.