Excerpt:
"But what if we could put off the natural (wo)man -- and see Lebanon next to Virginia; Darfur down the road from the Trade Center; Iraq across town from Columbine; the Samaritans as neighbors?
"Such empathy doesn't feel humanly possible. Really, who can hold such awareness and still plod on, cheerfully at that?"
Some sobering thoughts here.
ReplyDeletebonny and i watched 'pursuit of happiness' last night.
ReplyDeleteas i watched scenes of a father sleeping in a public restroom with his son, i think it put me in a similar 'hurting' mood.
lots of questions about how to do anything about some of these very challenging issues.
how much to give? when? to whom?
when are we running faster than we are able? when are we being greedy and just rationalizing the need to 'provide for our family's future' instead of giving to another family
that has PRESENT needs?
one of the difficulties of communication and media today is that if we pay any attention at all we become aware of more problems in any given day than we could solve in a very productive lifetime.
to feel hurt by such things has to be a good sign.
to actually do something to help (not with the illusion of solving, just helping) would be even better.
sorry to write another post here.
i do that too often.
Don't be sorry. That gave me pause also (scenes in Pursuit of Happyness)--here in the 'burbs I don't see many homeless people. But it's a real problem. Just like the other millions of problems out there. It's enough to get overwhelmed and into the all-or-nothing mindset.
ReplyDeleteI think whatever you feel okay about doing to help, is enough. As long as you keep asking yourself, "Is it enough?" and stretching to try to give a little more. And of course your family's future matters too.