From: Duckworth, Maggie
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 5:53 PM
Subject: Friday Inspiration, March 20, 2020

Dear Friends,

Thanks to those of you who came early and stayed late on today’s call! It was great seeing so many of your gorgeous faces, meeting your “co-workers”, and to be reminded: we are not alone and we will get through this!

If you’re wondering what’s up with my new hair—since all of the salons are closed I’ve declared this the season of the wig! Lol

Earlier this week I was feeling particularly down. Wednesday night I decided to watch a movie. My dad always says that when things feel bad—go to the movies and escape for a while. A few months ago I friend recommended I see JoJo Rabbit—he knew I’d love it. Since I couldn’t go to the theater I rented JoJo Rabbit. My friend was right: I loved the film.

JoJo Rabbit has an absurd premise that I won’t get into here, but there’s a lot of growth and love developed by the main character throughout the film. As JoJo becomes friendly with a perceived enemy the work of poet Ranier Maria Rilke becomes a supporting character.

At the end of the film, just before the credits, the screen faded to black, and this poem of Rilke’s popped up:

“Go to the Limits of Your Longing”

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going.

No feeling is final.

This poem gave me a lot of peace and hope.

The next day I called a colleague to discuss today’s call. As we were talking I read the poem to her and she exclaimed she’d just read Rilke’s work on isolation a couple of days prior. We were both excited to learn we felt connected to the same poet during this season of the unknown.

Connection is important—through words, art, music, making time to video chat with someone you miss. Let’s keep connecting with one another and the world around us in small ways. Create something, bake a loaf of bread, sew on a button, do some abstract water colors, write a letter with pen and paper. Connect to the simple things you have access to as we remain sequestered and share these things on social media, in an email or text, on yammer or the front porch in Microsoft Teams. Let’s celebrate each other during this time.

I’m glad to know each of you.

May you all feel comforted as we head into the weekend.

Talk soon.

Maggie