Satao, the African elephant killed by poachers for his tusks. Photo by Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone.

The largest elephant in Kenya, an old bull called Satao, was killed by a poison arrow on May 30 of this year. The poachers waited for him to die, then hacked off his face in order to remove his six-and-a-half-foot-long tusks, which they planned to sell on the black market.

How do we cope with the feelings of sorrow that well up when we hear such news? The tendency is to shut our eyes and our hearts against the pain and quickly think of or do something else.

But according to author, visionary thinker, and Buddhist practitioner Joanna Macy, there is another way. It is by journeying right through the pain we feel for the world, says Macy, that we move "into our powers to heal the world."

So instead of shifting your attention away from the news of Satao or other stories that break your heart, dare to linger with them for a moment. Dare to feel your heart tear open. Take a second to say hello and then goodbye to Satao.  

It is through the cracks of our broken hearts that startling shafts of beauty, compassion, and connectedness can penetrate.