Therapy Tuesday
Photo by: dcjohn
We all know the Chicken Little story about the chicken who thought the world was ending and repeatedly broadcasted this proclamation...until the world WAS ending, and no one bothered to listen. None of us expect the actual world to end, even amidst our personal catastrophes. Certainly, we didn't expect a natural disaster to happen last weekend, while those of us in America slept peacefully.
These kinds of things, literally, shake us to the core. It is an unwelcome reminder of the frailty that we all face. It is also an opportunity to reshape our sense of perspective.
I'm guilty of this. I was complaining (via Facebook) about the NFL owners and players not being able to come to a resolution (for a HUGE football fan, this is catastrophe...especially one who will have a newborn at the onset of football season). I was also complaining about how my state government wasn't able to do the right thing by pushing through a gay marriage bill that had already been passed by the Senate. I was wrapped up in my obligations to my clients and my family. Then Saturday morning's news came.
It's hard to worry from afar. And harder to feel the impact from a distance as well. Intellectually, I can appreciate the devastation that the men and women of Japan are facing. The interruptions to their daily lives are beyond my equivalent of just the power going out during a snow storm. I don't want to fully acknowledge the pain that this is causing, as taking that on is emotionally too much. I know that it is there for me, this capacity to over-empathize. So what I'm taking from all of this is a sense of perspective.
Yes, bad things are happening. Most of the time, other people are the cause of them. But it could be worse. Tsunamis and earthquakes are reminders of that. Inevitably, when these types of disaster strike, the best in us comes out. We aid one another with kindness, monetary generousity, provisions, support, and whatever else we can think of. This is the other side of tragedy: it is offset by acts of humanity.
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