A world without tenderness is a world I’m not so sure I want to live in. Sensitivity, receptivity, gentle concern, loving care, devotion, vulnerability, seeing the humanity in another…where has the science of tenderness gone?
On Sunday, February 23rd, 2025, 17 Adirondackers came to the John Brown Farm for a 2.23 mile snowshoe in remembrance of Ahmaud Arbery.
25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was murdered on February 23rd, 2020 while he was out for a jog in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia. He was shot by 3 white men – father, son and neighbor. Ahmaud’s precious life ended in a racially motivated hate crime. His murder reflects a world without tenderness. Dangerous, uncertain, unjust.
In the quiet beating heart of the snow-covered North Country, strangers came together on this Sunday in February to acknowledge the raw and rotten feelings of these times, the need for solidarity, and the humanity that lies beneath it all.
Ahmaud’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones remembers Maud as humble and helpful. Friends remember Maud’s devotion to jogging, and his ability to light up a room with his smile.
I left our snowshoe with a feeling of love so profound it nearly tore me to bits. I was incapable of leaving without ensuring my snowshoe companions knew the depth of my appreciation for them. I shared love and gratitude with faces I’ve seen thousands of times, and vulnerability with the eyes of those whom I may never meet again. Though I’ve never felt Maud’s embrace personally, my love for him is my love for all of humanity. This universal love encompasses a wholehearted, moral belief in equality and an undying desire to secure and safeguard human rights for all.
Our silent snowshoe was a heavy and reverent one, with neighbors gathering for a variety of quiet, understated reasons. Some were drawn by the power of A Memorial Field, a public art installation by Ren Davidson Seward that shines a light on police brutality. A Memorial Field was installed at the John Brown Farm from 2020-2024 and lives on at AMemorialField.org. A father came with his two children to spark a meaningful and ongoing conversation about justice. One woman reflected on the painful realization that she can jog safely while others can’t. Another noted that gatherings like these are more important than ever in today’s mangled America.
17 hungry hearts came together that Sunday – arms outstretched, teeth chattering, tears trickling, snow falling. We broke our silence at the potato field up the hill from the John Brown Farm to come together in a circle of painful remembrance and perhaps unexpectedly, overflowing gratitude. Perhaps it was gratitude for our willingness to feel, to be vulnerable, to remember, to gather, and to accept the tenderness that makes us human.
On this day, we held the beauty and terror of living in America in 2025. We ended our outing with a pledge to remember Ahmaud through the days that are to come.
