In the process of researching and writing my next nonfiction project, Simply Dag, I’ve arrived in September of 1960—the beginning of Dag Hammarskjöld’s final year. And . . . damn . . . it’s a lot.
Because for me, this isn’t just research. This isn’t a polite distance. When you care about someone—when he’s not just a “houseguest” quietly observing from the corner but rather a full, vivid presence in your life—it changes how the story unfolds. It changes you.
This year, for him, is filled with firestorms: the Congo crisis, betrayals, impossible decisions, press onslaughts, sleepless nights, and a burden that no one else truly understood. And yet, he carried it with a kind of grace that defies easy explanation. Every single day, the nightmare in Congo grew worse. Lest that sound hyperbolic, I can assure you, it’s not. Abductions. Murders. Assaults. Coups. Secessions. Over and over again. In the midst of that, Jordanian Prime Minister Hazza Majali was assassinated by bomb in his office. King Hussein pointed a finger squarely at Nasser’s United Arab Republic and from there, David Ben-Gurion announces that any attack on Amman is an attack on Israel by extension. So now the Middle East is also on fire. Again.
And in this, I’m walking beside Dag, day by day, choice by choice, letter by letter. I’m trying to do justice to the man behind the myth, behind the headlines, behind the bow tie. The weight of it is real. It’s sacred. It’s grief and devotion braided together in words.
And I can’t help but think: He didn’t get to write the ending. But maybe, in some way, I can help carry the last chapters home. 💙
Thanks for walking this path with me.
Decoding the Unicorn: A New Look at Dag Hammarskjöld and Dag’s Magical Castle are available on Amazon!
This content was published in The Unicorn Dispatch on April 30, 2025. To join the mailing list for updates and reflections, please click here: https://sara-causey.kit.com/2d8b7742dd
(Photo courtesy of Ohio University)