"this too shall pass"

How a thousand year old Persian phrase, used so casually in the West, was never just consolation, but a weapon aimed at tyrants and injustice.

Kabul 2013.

Someone has probably said it to you. I know they’ve said it to me. Many many times. You’re in the middle of something that feels endless, a grief, a failure, or you’re just stuck, and a person who loves you offers you those four small words. This too shall pass. And the maddening thing is, it helps. Even when you don’t want it to.

I used to th…