After the attacks in Paris and Beirut I created an image which imposed the flags of France and Lebanon upon a hand outstretched in welcome. And then comes California, and I wondered what to do.

Part of me thought I should create a collection of these images. Each time I became aware of a mass act of violence it would be my personal act of remembrance and empathy to create yet another version of the image. Since I have the template saved in Photoshop, it wouldn’t be that difficult. It would stand as a vivid, terrible, and yet beautiful symbol of the violence which exists in our world.

Perhaps I will still decide to take on that project, but this week I thought I’d change it just a bit, and make it a more broadly applicable expression of empathy.

The rose displayed in the post bloomed in December, a brilliant splash of color against the backdrop of barren trees. My neighbor asked for this image to be taken, and I was only to happy to oblige. The beauty of that single flower was a sign of life in a bleak time, and became the image displayed below. A December rose, offered to all the hurting.