It's Alright to Cry

Dear Friends-

It has been a difficult week. Since I last sat down to write to you all, we have seen terrible violence unfold in Paris, and our own community has been shaken by a sudden death in our extended Randolph family. I’m not sure I have words that will soothe the pain and grief that accompany these events, or sentences that will suddenly make sense of the incomprehensible.

I am finding that my own heart has been comforted this week by a song from my childhood. For the past week, this song from the 1972 children’s album “Free to Be You and Me” has been playing in a loop in my head, sung in the wonderful deep voice of Rosie Grier. It has been a mantra for myself and a reminder to me to give space, understanding, and support to my family, friends, and community:

It's alright to cry

Crying gets the sad out of you

It's alright to cry

It might make you feel better

Raindrops from your eyes

Washing all the mad out of you

Raindrops from your eyes

It's gonna make you feel better

It's alright to feel things

Though the feelings may be strange

Feelings are such real things

And they change and change and change

Feelings do change constantly, and perhaps in the next Friday Note I will be writing to you about something new and interesting in our school community. For now, I am sending out love and support to those who are grieving, and I am allowing myself to shed my own tears when I need to.

Be well,

Ben