"Houston, we have a problem." —"Jack Swigert," Apollo 13

There are many words from history that are widely known and ripple through time. This simple sentence has never felt more true than this last year. I’ve heard people exclaim “Houston, we have a problem” when entering the grocery store and realizing they forgot their mask. Or as their political party wasn’t succeeding. Or as they entered the fourth store only to realize they are out of toilet paper, too. Really, looking back, any one of us could exclaim, “We have a problem!” every second of every day since the world just — well — since it shut down. I’ll be honest and tell you that real problems are all over but maybe it’s better if we start looking for the solutions that are all around us too. The ones that seem to be hiding because the problems appear to be so glaring and huge. For every problem there are countless solutions so really because the solutions out number the problems they hold the power. Really we should all be exclaiming, “World, we have solutions!”

Sarah Deats

Sarah Deats is a Behavioral Health Technician at RI International and the Hope Inc. Stories Inspiration Engineer.