Community

Like most people, the stabbing incident on the Portland Max was hard to get over. I could not stop thinking about it. Like all awful incidents, it chips away at our soul and makes us question life and its many unfathomable dimensions. Worse yet, is trying to make sense of it… for really, there is no making sense. There is simply no sense in it.

Like many sad incidents, this one was also about bravery and courage on the part of some incredible humans. And much as I tried to remember that, the matter would still not settle. I know there is no resolving certain things. Many things actually. By the end of the week, I wondered if there was a way to turn it into something good. On a whim, we sent out this email…

because life is sweet... even when events around us are unsavory. And to remember that, Anika and I will be doing a weekend of Sucre' after many years.

Sucre was a sweet summer venture my sweet child and I did about six years ago -- when we baked sweet treats once a week and donated proceeds to charity.

Am sure all of you are just as sad by the recent stabbing event on the Max. But it also brings to light that there is good, that there are good people around us, even when things are bad. We would like to donate the proceeds of the bake sale to the families of these brave victims.

And what a sweeter way to do so than with cupcakes. We will have rose, chocolate or red velvet cupcakes. Each cupcake $2. No frosting :) The sweet baker and I will be happy to make sweet deliveries too :)

Here's to adding a little sucre' (which in French, means sweetness) to our world.

~ Anika and Ruta

P.S. The rose cupcakes will be available today (Friday) 6:30 p.m. onwards and the chocolate or red velvet tomorrow (Saturday) late morning (depending on when the tween baker wakes up :) )

The response was amazing. Suddenly the oven was warmed, baking happened… a lot of baking… wonderful aromas wafted out of the kitchen… friends stopped by… cupcakes were distributed…smiles spread…it may all have been for a sad incident, but in the moment there was joy. In the moment I noticed how much others were similarly affected, and how much those around me seemed to want to do something about it. Be a part of something (even as insignificant as a bake sale) that acknowledged the wrong, and the brave, and tried to turn it into something good. We raised a little over three hundred dollars – all of which we donated. I wished I had more energy to bake more, for I know we would have sold more.

The amount may be a drop in the ocean, but it made me realize the strength of community. This community included folks of multiple ethnicities and religions. But none of it mattered. None of it matters. For all that matters is the strength that lies in it.  

Ordinarily, I would have made my donation, quietly, by myself. Ordinarily, I would have scribbled a few lines somewhere, quietly, by myself. This time, however, I included people around me (without thinking or realizing it… like many things I do… without thinking it through…). And in the generosity and perseverance of the community, I saw strength and healing and the reassurance that good will prevail. That there is much good, despite the awful incidents.

I hope we can always find ways to heal as a community… for there is much power in it.