Sacred Ground

"You have to understand, no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land." Somali-British poet Warsan Shire.

More than 400,000 refugees have set foot on this shore looking for acceptance and safety. It's this sea that has claimed the lives of countless young and old alike. Turkey is a mere 20 miles away, always visible. A constant reminder of tremendous sacrifice and hope. Grief and love. Of what it takes to put your children in a dingy to cross the cold and choppy sea, not knowing what you will find on the other side or if you'll even survive the journey. Children's shoes, tattered life preservers and shredded rope litter the shore. I can't help but wonder if the kids wearing these shoes made it. I hope so, with all the hope I have in me.

I put my toes into the Aegean today. Felt the cold, the wind, the rocks and the kelp on my skin. I'm reminded of a quote I heard recently: "You must understand, no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land." The weight of that statement looms here, and I feel like this is a new kind of sacred ground. It is beautiful and terrible. Welcoming and foreboding. Kind and merciless. Safe passage and certain doom, all rolled into one. Heaven and hell on one little island.

A place like this leaves a mark on a person. And I'm ok with that. I never want to forget how lucky I am. How honored I am to do this work. So I pick up a piece of driftwood from the shore and head home, knowing that my life is forever changed because of this island, these people and the beautiful and terrible sea.