Here we are at another year’s end, another day in the continuum, a day no more important than Tuesday of last week, and no less important than the day we took our first step. Every day begins with maximum potential, every day a fresh start. Reviewing the previous 365 fresh starts has its value – lessons learned, highlights, “ah-hah” moments, the times we got back up when life predicted we wouldn’t. I take stock of the year by gathering up the joy and laughter, the moments of love and revelation, leaving the rest to fade away. My brain is too full of the good stuff, of which at my age, some details occasionally leak out, to be bothered with the chaff.
At this year’s end I feel a desperate plea or prayer, the hope we will recognize we must hoist up our socks and find our way back to the path of getting it right, focussing less on wealth and more on enough, less on getting and more on giving, thinking more about repairing and less about replacing. This year my optimism has been shaken, crumpled slightly. I believe “optimism is true moral courage”, not my words, but I have sometimes faltered in that outlook.
My daughters and I engage in discussions of the how world might become safer for girls and women, not by arming girls with weapons or self defense skills but changing the climate in which boys grow. Aimee shared a video of a young Irish writer reciting one of his many works, “If I Ever Have Boys”, which recharged my optimism. I felt real hope for the first time that one day our daughters will be safe from misogyny and our sons will grow up to be vulnerable and sensitive.
Let me introduce you to Daragh Fleming. Daragh has an MA in Linguistics and a BA in Applied Psychology. He was born and raised in Cork, Ireland, his statistics which had some influence on his creativity, but life has shaped his passion for writing and speaking on those subjects that we all too often avoid. He advocates for mental health by speaking the truth of his own struggles and how creativity saved him. Daragh’s best friend took his own life when he was seventeen. We don’t recover from tragedy at that age; it reshapes who we will become.
There are courageous creative people in all walks of life, who spend their time searching for the answers to this thing called the human condition. Daragh knows, as Einstein knew, that curiosity and creativity will lead us to the answers we seek. Daragh’s recovery from grief seemed to come by “turning the volume down” on his emotions, but true recovery was found in “crafting hope” with all his writing as he “relearned emotions”. His poetry helped him make sense of his feelings, and his writing undoubtedly has helped many to find their way safely through mental health struggles. Daragh speaks for us all but certainly speaks for those who can’t.
If space would allow, I would share the lengthy list of Daragh’s writing, such as “The Book of Revelations”, “Lonely Boy”, “Enigmatic” published by Sunday Mornings At The River in 2023, “A Brief Inhalation” published in 2025 by Broken Sleep Books. “Poems That Were Written On Trains But Weren’t Written About Trains”, published in 2022 whose title alone is enough to make us want to pick it up. Visit his website www.thoughtstoobig.ie.
Simply put, it is writers like Daragh Fleming who inspire us to dig deeper for answers, to strive to be engaged with the world, to not turn away from that which is difficult. “If I ever have boys,” Daragh writes, “they’ll be dangerous men, they’ll smile at dogs and children and be a tonic to friends … they won’t stay silent even when it’s uncomfortable for them … they’ll use their voices to amplify the unheard … my boys won’t grow learning to emotionally hide, they’ll reshape masculinity into something they like, make it softer to touch … they’ll live in truth even when that truth stings … if I ever have boys, they’ll be dangerous men, but the danger they’ll be won’t be the one society meant.” These are mere pieces of the whole, with Daragh’s kind permission.
In 2026, my hope is we repair what isn’t working, that similarly we recognize when others are hurting and don’t discard them because they are broken. I hope we include those whom life has beaten down when we are planning our visions for the future, that we think of future generations when taking action to support the environment while working with nature’s wisdom rather than against, that the solution for homelessness isn’t chasing our fellow humans out of sight away from whatever comfort they can find, that the remedy for not being loved as we expected is not to wield a weapon. I hope we firm up equal rights in a way that can’t be struck down. In 2026, I hope we wear kindness as our armour, as the first tool we reach for to solve a problem. And I will keep Daragh’s writing close at hand.
wendistewart@live.ca
