despair

Traveling through the mountains of Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, I heard accounts of migrants suffering shortages of food and climate-driven despair that had forced them to move.

In the midst of despair the local population are understandably searching for beacons of hope, for example the remarkable story of what happened at the Whitby English language school.

“You want the scene to emotionally take you to a high point. And when you can’t express that joy or that euphoria in any other way, you break into song. The same is true the other way. You go down to the depths of despair, and in that moment of pain and that moment of anguish, singing is the only way to express how you feel.”

Any public voice who suggests that everything is going to be fine and that panic or despair are unwarranted should not be taken seriously.

"He feels despair, I know that," said his mother, as she described what led to him being sent to prison when he was 19 years old.