Perspective

[anica]

I'm not sure this really goes here, but it's late, I'm tired, and this was the best I could do. Anyway, the events in Haiti have put my worries, dramas and concerns in a whole new perspective. When I mentioned this to my psychologist at the beginning of our session this morning, she said I was maybe the fifth person to have expressed those emotions in the days since the earthquake.

I feel helpless in the face of such magnitude of suffering. It makes me wish I was a more prayerful woman.

 

[Faye]

We are helpless in the face of such a disaster. Why do you wish you were more prayerful?

 

[anica]

We are helpless in the face of such a disaster. Why do you wish you were more prayerful?

Because if I believed more strongly in the power of prayer, I could pray and feel I was doing something constructive. Of course, in my current state, this would help only me and not the people suffering in Haiti, so my motivation is purely selfish.

 

[randomsomeone]

Events of such magnitude and tragedy to give us all a good jolt....and your deep feeling, and yearnings, and inner groanings are probably prayer enough, perhaps even the best prayer because it radiates from so deep within you so as to bypass your mind and conscious thoughts.

 

[anica]

Events of such magnitude and tragedy to give us all a good jolt....and your deep feeling, and yearnings, and inner groanings are probably prayer enough, perhaps even the best prayer because it radiates from so deep within you so as to bypass your mind and conscious thoughts.

Perhaps you are right. I cetainly hope so.

 

[jn56uytrx]

Events of such magnitude and tragedy to give us all a good jolt....and your deep feeling, and yearnings, and inner groanings are probably prayer enough, perhaps even the best prayer because it radiates from so deep within you so as to bypass your mind and conscious thoughts.

I agree.

It's hard to give voice to, but I used to be a prayerful woman and it did offer me a comfort that I was able to "do" something.

I felt a profound sense of ineffectiveness when I let the culture surrounding my prayer life go. Because prayer was part of that culture, it did not seem a tool that was accessible to me any longer.

In time I have come to realize that the word prayer may be a certain sort of religious label put on something that everyone has access to, inside or outside of a religious culture.

I think it is as randomsomeone indicates.

...and your deep feeling, and yearnings, and inner groanings are probably prayer enough, perhaps even the best prayer because it radiates from so deep within you so as to bypass your mind and conscious thoughts.

I believe you already are praying and I believe your deep expression of care is having effect beyond your individual expression of self and into the greater world through the energy transferred in a deeply felt experience of compassion and concern for another.

 

[Morgain]

I believe you already are praying and I believe your deep expression of care is having effect beyond your individual expression of self and into the greater world through the energy transferred in a deeply felt experience of compassion and concern for another.

I believe that to

I also think some things happens for a reason. This is not the first problem that Haiti encountered. The tragedy there is going on for a very long time with all kinds of natural disasters. This one was only a lot bigger than the ones before. I'm currently donating for an orphanage in Peru. This organization as also an orphanage in haiti and for several months now I get mail for extra money because the tragedy there is enormous. Sadly, no country in the world seemed to care about it. Nobody reacted. Children where dying because of hunger and drinking polluted water both nobody reacted. Now because this event is so major, things have been changed. Countries around the globe are raising money in the same why as with the tsunami in Indonesia. So maybe this is a turning point for haiti. Maybe now with the help of the entire world, they can improve the lives of people there ((((((thanks to this event)))))

 

[enfp can be shy]

All human emotional states, are defined only by comparison.

I realized it, when I was little. I was waiting for the bus and these little kids came to play around, in the rain. They were clearly homeless. They only had some plastic bag, taken from the garbage. Nothing else. Probably nothing else in the world. They would fill the bag with water from deep puddles. And then empty it. And then again. It was pouring with rain. Very heavily. There was a river of rain floating along the street. These kids' poor clothing couldn't protect them at all, and they were shivering from the cold. But they were moving and laughing so lively, that they couldn't even feel it. I was very worried at the moment with my mother's illness, and that I couldn't get her some expensive medicines. After seeing these kids, I cried. And smiled. At the same time. I mean, they didn't even know if there was going to be tomorrow for them. And yet they were laughing so sincerely. Never in my life I had seen such genuine joy, as theirs. Filling the bag with water, pouring it back in the puddles. And laugh, and jump, and run, and laugh again. They didn't even have shoes. And it was in October.

 

[Entyqua]

This is going to sound so cold, but such is my perspective. I am keeping myself away form the news of this, so that i dont get overloaded with these emotions. I feel sad for those affected...I want to fix it, as my Idealist self dictates. But, i cant submerge myself in it...I dont want to be drained.

 

[anica]

I believe that to

I also think some things happens for a reason. This is not the first problem that Haiti encountered. The tragedy there is going on for a very long time with all kinds of natural disasters. This one was only a lot bigger than the ones before. I'm currently donating for an orphanage in Peru. This organization as also an orphanage in haiti and for several months now I get mail for extra money because the tragedy there is enormous. Sadly, no country in the world seemed to care about it. Nobody reacted. Children where dying because of hunger and drinking polluted water both nobody reacted. Now because this event is so major, things have been changed. Countries around the globe are raising money in the same why as with the tsunami in Indonesia. So maybe this is a turning point for haiti. Maybe now with the help of the entire world, they can improve the lives of people there ((((((thanks to this event)))))

I so hope you are right and that the world doesn't sink back into apathy over thistiny place that offers nothing for other countries to exploit. I hate to interject a note of cynicism in this thread. I have probably been listening too much to my b/f whose deep idealism was shattered by loss and war. It is something I strive to heal with love; so far with minimal success. But I digress...

To tell the truth, I hadn't thought about this aspect of the tragedy there.

 

[anica]

I agree.

It's hard to give voice to, but I used to be a prayerful woman and it did offer me a comfort that I was able to "do" something.

I felt a profound sense of ineffectiveness when I let the culture surrounding my prayer life go. Because prayer was part of that culture, it did not seem a tool that was accessible to me any longer.

In time I have come to realize that the word prayer may be a certain sort of religious label put on something that everyone has access to, inside or outside of a religious culture.

I think it is as randomsomeone indicates.



I believe you already are praying and I believe your deep expression of care is having effect beyond your individual expression of self and into the greater world through the energy transferred in a deeply felt experience of compassion and concern for another.

Thank you, thank you, Tovlo, for this insight.