by TaeHun Yoon
3/8/2026

It’s strange the way a thought returns—
the tide at Saltstraumen
comes back to mind today:
that narrow run of water where the moon
and sea pull hard against the land
until the current forces through the rocks
like something burning under waves.

The world seems moving much the same.

A storm comes down across the middle states—
tornado wind and hail—
and one small town,
Union City, Michigan,
is left to count what’s gone.

Then farther north the ocean shakes—
an earthquake off the
Kamchatka Peninsula—
and people start to think of waves
that might run out to distant shores:
Hawaii,
Japan,
Indonesia,
even the marshes down in
West coastline of us.

You can’t help wondering
what the world is coming to.

There’s talk again of larger wars—
the names are said across the news:
Iran,
United States,
Israel.

We spend enough on arms
to feed the earth for years,
yet hunger waits
with nothing in its bowl.

Nations raise their flags
and carve their triumphs into stone,
as though the years would keep their word.

But time has never served a king.

Roads once built for glory
grow over with grass.
Coins stamped bright with empire
end again as melted metal.

Some powers fail through greed,
some through pride.
Some reach too far and lose their way.
Some crumble slowly from within.

Often they forget the ground itself—
the quiet work that keeps a people whole.
They aim too high for sky and fame
and miss the seed that waits below.

So kingdoms pass.
The earth goes on.

And faith returns the way it does in spring—
not loudly, not by argument,
but slowly rising where the roots still live.

History has hardly known a year of peace.
Even the tide at Saltstraumen
must rest a few hours
between its rush of force.

So people ask—
are these the final days of earth?

Yet I hear another thought today:
a world where difference need not wound,
where what divides us forms a bridge,
where women, children, anyone made weak
are welcomed without fear.

Toward such a day
some keep walking on quietly.

So I will call this day
by another name.

Not ending, but returning.

A homecoming.

Today
is Women’s Day.