Even the fiercest of us, even those gifted with flight, must find a rock to cling to when life’s floods appear. What will hold us, steady us—what system, practice, or trait will keep us safe when the tumult threatens to engulf us? When our tribal distinctions are stripped of meaning and the details with which we fritter away our lives are atomized, will we surrender up to the heavens? Will we rage impotently against the storm? We cannot know until the flood appears. In the terrible beauty of those moments, we each must find our rock and hang on.

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