So you go through your days, getting the girls up, putting them to sleep, making lunches for your husband, getting rejection after rejection in the mail for your stories, trying to raise money for your daughter's kindergarten's playground, trying to be a good person, volunteering at northwest food bank occasionally, dealing with bills and dreaming about what you would do with your house if you had enough money.

Then you read about Abu Ghraib or you hear the firsthand account of a mother who lost her son in Iraq after sunday service, or you see that the two year old brought in by the barely older mother at the food bank did not come in a car seat and you wonder about why you go through the motions. You wonder how your country came to be controlled by people who seem to be so callous, and you wonder, guiltily, how culpable you are, and how much you can do to fix things without giving up your lattes and your children's private education...

And then you come across a quote like this:

"in life, there is coming together and there is tearing apart; even though in this world the tearing apart always wins, it's important to be on the side of the coming together."
(from a comment By Dan P. on Benjamin Rosembaum's blog)

And it's what you should have said to yourself all along. Yes, it seems like tearing apart is what happens, but yes its important to stand up on the side of coming together once and while. And if you do this, maybe it will be okay to buy lattes and send your children to private schools. And maybe next time you're feeling worn out, this is what you should say to yourself.