What I didn't listen to: Heavy and Light

Saturday, the 7th, To Write Love on Her Arms hosted a concert in Orlando, FL called Heavy and Light as part of their Welcome to Midnight campaign.

If you're not familiar with TWLOHA they are something of a grassroots nonprofit organization that exists to offer hope and help to those those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.

To be perfectly honest, about 20% of my affinity for this group probably has to do with the fact that they're a young, verbose, artsy crowd with a knack for inspiring videos and modern graphic design (I love that font). But the foundation of this organization is closely tied to idea that you, as a friend, can do something to help those who are hurting. And I freaking love that.

Read the story that started everything here.

They've done a lot of cool things since then, but nothing inspires me like this story. Imagine if you were the one to stay up all night fighting back the lies that tell someone that they're alone, to have the audacity to step into someone's story to tell them that they matter, to wipe away the scars and write love on her arms.

They are not explicitly a Christian organization, although the founders are Christian, but they are certainly doing the work of Christ.

You were created to love and to be loved. You were meant to live life in relationship with other people, to know and be known. You need to know that your story is important and that you're part of a bigger story. You need to know that your life matters. 

The best days are ahead of us. to write love on her arms

This video was the intro to what I'm sure was an amazing concert featuring the (amazing) David Bazan of Pedro the Lion and a lot of other really great (if slightly less amazing) musicians.

To Write Love on Her Arms: Fears vs Dreams

To Write Love on Her Arms is one of those organize that never fails to inspire me, today I hope they inspire you too.

I was talking to one of my friends recently about the idea of using videos to share stories. The goal of this being to show both variety and unity in our stories: we're all utterly unique in our stories yet, paradoxically, have a profound unity. I suspect that divisions and misunderstandings are at the heart of hate, pain, fear, apathy, malice, envy, etc. and that these feelings unravel when you understand someone; it's easier to hate a stranger than a friend.

Beyond just being a nice idea, I think there is something vital buried in this knowledge, not just an acknowledgement but a real experiential knowledge. The rare kind that comes after you've taken off your protective gloves, after you take the time to really understand someone, after you've earned their trust enough for them to reveal the deepest parts of their spirit. This is so much more than tolerance, it's not about festivals and parades. It's a person in your life who deserves your love and understanding.

Even as I shared this with my friend, I had trouble explaining it, I still do, and it sank to the back of my mind amid other projects until I saw this video by TWLOHA as part of their Fear vs Dreams campaign. And it all clicked: "Oh, that's what I was trying to say."

He himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation

Ephesians 2:14

Fears vs Dreams Road Trip. from To Write Love on Her Arms. on Vimeo.

Storytellers

It's been quiet around here but not because nothing is happening. I'm so excited for the next few months, there are so many things stirring up that I'm very excited to share. But, by way of a prologue, I want to send some love to some people I think are very cool.

I love stories, so much I forget that I'm not in them. In many ways, fiction is my narcotic. It elevates my existence to something beyond my own life, and makes me feel like I'm part of something amazing. But, to be honest, real-life stories have often scared me. Real-life stories are uncensored and cannot be closed up like a book. Real-life stories have a nasty habit of leaking their contents onto your hands as you read them.

But I've realized that the beautiful thing about real-life stories is that you can be part of them. They elevate you beyond your own existence and, even better, they don't end. It's a frightening, frustrating, and exhausting experience but it's real and undeniably beautiful.

I've since fallen in love with real-life stories and those who tell them.

A few years ago, one of my good friends shared a group with me called To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA). I'll let them tell you about themselves because they can do a better job than I can but I'll share just a tiny bit here:

To Write Love on Her Arms was, appropriately the title of a real person's story. Her name is Renee and she was on her way to being a tragedy when some friends stepped in the middle of her scary story filled with addiction, depression, self-mutilation and suicide and didn't run away. Instead they decided to write a different story with her. Then they shared her story with the world.

The movement is ridiculously simple and heartbreakingly impossible: to walk into someone's story and to tell them they are not alone and that they matter, to not be afraid of the mess, the pain, and the darkness, to stay with them and to write love on their arms.

Denny Kolsch's is one more of the many stories TWLOHA has told since then.

"All of those broken pieces of my past [are] connected to this bigger story. It's not this black and white: "I was to be an addict and now I'm clean." Everyday it's a struggle at some level. But I'm able to do it because of the people around me. Because of my community, all of the people around me that I love and that love me, I'm able to live."