Musings on Grief and Gratitude in Remembrance of Thich Nhat Hanh
January 28, 2022
Thich Nhat Hanh passed away on January 22 at the age of 95. While I know he has been navigating health issues for the last several years, I still feel an immense grief and loss. At a time when the world feels so divided, it feels especially challenging to lose one of the greatest advocates for love, compassion, and peace.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s passing is deeply personal for me, as I imagine it is for many of his long-time readers and community members. I first discovered his work when I was a sophomore in college. I was struggling with anxiety during this time and lived in a constant cycle of worry that felt impossible to break. On my summers home from college, feeling isolated in Arkansas, I would search for books that helped me grapple with this state of existentialism and loneliness. I discovered his book “Peace Is The Way” by chance in our small-town library. Reading the first few pages filled me with a grounding and peace that I had not yet found anywhere else. This memory lives in me as vividly as if it were yesterday, seared on my heart as a formative moment in my life. I can still picture a young version of myself sitting in my bed on a muggy Arkansas summer, reading his book late at night in my room. Halfway through his book, I remember putting it down and realizing that I had discovered something that resonated with me so deeply that it couldn’t have been a chance that it made its way into my life.
Dr. Anu Gorukanti
