PEBBLE
In between breaths, in the moment between success or failure, there is life lived to the fullest.
~David Millican, shared by Jacob in Seattle, WA
BOULDER
You who are passing by
I beg you
do something
learn a dance step
something to justify your existence
something that gives you the right
to be dressed in your skin in your body hair
learn to walk and to laugh
because it would be too senseless after all
for so many to have died while you live
doing nothing with your life.
~Charlotte Delbo, Auschwitz Survivor (Excerpt from A Prayer to the Living to Forgive Them for Being Alive, 1971)
posted at the end of “Auschwitz: Not long ago, Not far away” museum exhibit at Cincinnati Museum Center, 2026
PONDER
It was fascinating to learn the backstory for today’s Pebble. It turns out the line was spoken by Jacob’s Dungeon Master during a Dungeons & Dragons game, reflecting on how a roll of the dice determines the outcome and moves the story forward. Jacob recognized its broader application, too: “Life is lived both within and between moments,” he wrote. “There is something in the outcome, but just as much, there is something in the doing.”
Jacob had no way of knowing that I had recently scribbled down today’s Boulder after visiting an extraordinarily powerful museum exhibit about Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp that became one of history’s darkest symbols of cruelty and suffering.
I know the Boulder is heavy. Here’s my take: I don’t think Charlotte Delbo is trying to make us feel guilty for being alive. Instead, I think she’s urging us to honor our full aliveness through meaningful action, whether that’s literally learning a dance step like she suggests or simply moving through life with more laughter, more flair, and more kindness.
Whatever you choose, be fully alive today. And be aware of your full aliveness, too.
Peace,
Paul
P.S. I learned while assembling this issue that the museum exhibit will next travel to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., opening in January 2027. It’s not exactly a comfortable experience, but I found it to be a powerful way to bear witness.