Ultimately, gathering and carrying joy can be read as a subtle form of resistance. In a world that scatters our attention and amplifies fear or scarcity, choosing to collect and protect small joys pushes back against emotional depletion. It becomes a daily discipline of renewal, much like tending a garden in harsh soil. By repeatedly returning to the basket—recalling a friend’s support, a moment of beauty, a hard-earned achievement—we refuse to let difficulty define the whole picture. Thus, Walker’s sentence offers a compact ethic: train yourself to notice, gather, and transport joy so that every undertaking, however modest or daunting, is accompanied by a quiet, sustaining light. [...]
