How to know what you're fighting for

  It was just Dawna and I, divided by a shower curtain, with dead Marines and ISIS buzzing in our heads, and leaving a home of ten years, and Mama maybe not getting a garden, and Ethan's sad, sad heart.
     And I don't know how she understood, but I said this out loud, trying to remind myself, to not lose hope, trying to keep on trusting, to not go insane:
     "There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for." Just said it out loud, 'cause I felt like Frodo and wanted to say, "What are we holding onto? Why must we do it day after day? Why can't it just be over?"
     She didn't miss a beat.
     She knew just what to say, always knows just what to say.
     "And how do we fight? It's the little acts of kindness, love, that keeps the darkness at bay."