The most moving essay I’ve ever read
Black-and-white deserts + pointing at Bill Skarsgard in the airport security line (Issue #279)
In 2019, around this time of year, Jenny Harrington published what is literally the most moving essay I have ever read — a tribute to her eight-year-old son, Ewan, who passed away from leukemia. I still remember where I was when I first read it. I was in the middle of Medium’s office at the time, at my standing desk, with my cup of very hot coffee from the bodega around the corner. It was like… 8:30 a.m.? It was a Monday, if I recall correctly. I think I was the second one in the office that day. It was dead silent and I had a ton of work to do, and I was vaguely stressed about that. Then, I opened up Medium, came across this story, and started reading.
Five minutes later I was crying. A lot. (People came in with their coffees and were like… What is going on?)
Since then, over 1 million people have read it. 412 people have commented. This response, from reader Peter Boyd, sums up why I had such a strong reaction: Somehow, Harrington’s essay is about grief but manages to be uplifting, nuanced, and actually helpful.
I’m not sharing this because I want you to have to start your week bawling at your desk (even Boyd said reading it “blew his whole work plan out of the water”). I’m sharing it because it’s the most generous essay I’ve ever read.
I think it’s rare to go through something as hard as losing your eight-year-old son to cancer, process that, and turn it into something that, in the words of one reader, “should be read and distributed to every children’s cancer center in the country.” The most generous part is the third magical phrase, which I won’t quote here because pulling it out of context doesn’t quite work, but you’ll see when you read it. Maybe save it until after work.
🫶 Also today…
- Please enjoy these brooding and beautiful original black-and-white photos of the American Southwest, courtesy of Cynthia A Whelan in Live View.
- A middle- and high-school English teacher observes the slow decline of writing in her classroom and wonders if it will go out of fashion the way cursive did (although she mentions some students are “reviving” cursive and compares it to calligraphy). (Normi Coto, PhD in Age of Awareness)
- Can someone please send this to Nosferatu star Bill Skarsgård? A Medium writer pointed at him in the airport and is very sorry. Thank you. (Aaron P Hess)
💪 Worth remembering
“Confidence comes from evidence,” writes Brad Stulberg, author of The Practice of Groundedness. “If you want to be confident about something, put in the reps and give yourself the evidence.”
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Edited by Scott Lamb
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