Hey everyone. This isn't a bonus episode, not really. It's a note from the Nameless Crew to everyone out there listening, because we're thinking of you, and there are a few things we want to say.
People are frightened right now. We're facing uncertainty at best. People in some parts of the world are dealing with grief and loss. Many of us are afraid and alone. And we, here, happen to be telling a story of hope in a hard world - it's what we very deliberately do. And now we're hearing that some of you are finding solace in these people we've created and their stories.
We want to give you a little more than fiction. All we have are words, so we're going to try to find some good ones. But we aren't going to offer you empty promises that everything will be all right. You'd know they were meaningless. We don't know any more than you do.
Instead, what we have to offer is this: please, in this uncertain time, when things are hard, look out for each other. Look after yourself. Let yourself be afraid, and know that even in hard times, moments of joy matter.
We, every one of us, contain multitudes - we can find beauty in between our fears. We can look hard at the things we cannot control, and still create art that connects us to each other and the world. We can struggle to trust that the future has meaning, but choose to act as though our choices matter.
We can let ourselves be human and fallible, and also the best of what humanity is - a clever, creative, social ape that has invented stories. We are the animal that makes meaning. We do it urgently; we need our stories the way we need air to breathe, the way the touch of a gentle hand reminds us we're alive, the way we let ourselves sleep at night, trusting that the morning will come.
We can be fierce in our defiance of despair. We can let ourselves cry when we need to cry, and we can still choose, again and again, to hope.
That's what we have to give you, right now. From the Nameless Crew to all of you: please, if you can, choose kindness, love, art, beauty, joy, wonder. Please, if you can, choose hope.
-with much love, from Alex, Caro, Endy, Evan, Nerys, Sawyer, Trace, and Trevor
