(extract) “So what do we do with all this feathered misery? Learn from it. Poignancy often arrives sideways. Not from the expected heroics of the powerful, but from the unexpected courage of the powerless. A child offering comfort when adults fail. A servant acting where kings dither. A bird tugging thorns from a savior’s brow."

“Hypocrisy deserves outrage, doesn’t it? When someone talks about values and family while betraying those very things, isn’t anger the natural response? But after a month of walking around with that stone in my pocket, I realized it was weighing me down more than him. He wasn’t losing sleep over my judgment. I was.”

For some, the idea of “dying to oneself” might be less about spiritual transcendence and more about giving up – letting go of the need to fight, struggle, or exist in the messy, chaotic world. That’s not so much a peaceful release as it is an existential surrender.