Despair is a sickness of the soul. If the despairing soul is to heal, it will do so on its own. The greatest gift we have to offer is our selfless and solitary witness. For when we stand vigil with the despairing spirit, more than anything else we are denying the emptiness into which the spirit wishes to plunge. By our presence we are affirming a worth that the spirit does not feel. We are bearing witness to a possibility in which the spirit does not believe. We are defying the darkness.
— Kent Nerburn, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace