Over the past year, we have experienced a rapid increase in the intensity of life, and this year is looking to top it all. It reminds me of my time living on Kaua’i. That island appears to be paradise, but those who live there know the intensity of the last mountain in the sea.

I know that man.

He was the father of my best friend, the one who still had a job even though the factories had kicked nearly everyone else out. He brought me to my first picket line. Taught me to look at the labels of clothing, to search for things made in America. I still think of him when I think of the children in the Philippines who made my shirt.