I’m writing this on Nov. 4 with no idea of what the state of the world will be a few days from now. Like many people, the news brings me stress and thinking about how the world could change in a matter of days fills me with anxiety. In times like this, I do the only thing that I know how to do: I turn to great literature. 

I’m currently re-reading Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 novel “The Road,” a post-apocalyptic novel that follows a father and son as they travel across a ravaged, decrepit America. The novel is one of the most brutal novels that I have ever read, as some of the images that McCarthy creates haunt me every time I think about them. That’s not only because of McCarthy’s beautiful prose. It’s also because the idea of a lawless society that leads to chaos and violence feels too close to the bone sometimes. A world where our children and our future are in danger is one that isn’t too far from our own. 

But I don’t turn to that novel to feel hopeless. Rather, I look at McCarthy’s message of hope that he buries beneath the darkness. With all of its brutality, “The Road” is a novel that has a message of love baked into its core. With his story about a man and boy surviving together amidst darkness, McCarthy finds humanity and hope in unexpected moments throughout the novel. One such moment is when the man and boy are building a fire together. McCarthy writes, “Where you’ve got nothing else, construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.” Here, the “ceremony” can refer to the fire, and by “breathing air” upon it, the man is strengthening the fire and building warmth, protecting his child, his loved one. Providing a shelter.

In this time of uncertainty, it is our job to construct our own ceremonies and breathe them into existence. To provide our own warmth for our loved ones who may feel alone. We can be like the man and provide the shelter, but we also shouldn’t be afraid to be the boy and take the shelter when we need it. 

On the flip side, it’s easy to project hate and “The Road” also shows us this. During the course of the novel, several people try to kill both the man and the boy in efforts to just survive. This also feels all too real. Sometimes the instinct to hate is so powerful that it is tough to resist, and so we think it is the only thing we can do to get by in the world. We think that if we punch others down, we get propped up. 

That can’t be further from the truth.

With every obstacle that comes their way, the man and boy persevere because of their love for each other. When strangers attack the boy, the man protects him. When the man has to leave the boy to get firewood, the boy trusts him enough to come back. And so, as McCarthy shows, love is always stronger than hate. 

As long as we choose to love, everything will be okay in the end. I know that things seem scary, but as long as we stick with our loved ones, hope and good will prevail. So stand united, construct your own ceremonies out of thin air and breathe upon them. And if that is too much for you at the current moment, then just breathe. Close your eyes and breathe.