“The strength of a man isn’t seen in the power of his arms. It’s seen in the love with which he embraces you.” ~ Steve Maraboli

The most haunting image to emerge from the Bangladesh building collapse—two individuals sharing love’s last embrace. There is something about this image—it captures me, and draws me nearer. I feel connected to these two friends—I feel as if I know the emotions of their final moments together. I see the blood dripping from this young man’s eye, the final tear in love’s last embrace.

And though, to some this image may represent horrific tragedy, to me, it also represents the divine power of love. That even in the face of adversity and death, our human instinct is to nurture our fellow human spirits.

Said photographer Shahidul Alam,

“This image, while deeply disturbing, is also hauntingly beautiful. An embrace in death, its tenderness rises above the rubble to touch us where we are most vulnerable. By making it personal, it refuses to let go. This is a photograph that will torment us in our dreams. Quietly it tells us. Never again.”

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama emphasized this point just the other day, “We are [the] same…The way we are born, the way we die—no formality.”

That point couldn’t have been captured more clearly by this one image—in the end, love will always rise above tragedy.

My hearts and prayers are sent to these most beautiful families, that they may all feel our love this day.

And that, these two friends may have the comfort of love’s final embrace for all of eternity.

Namaste.

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