I remember exactly where I was the day 9/11 happened. I was visiting my former roommates in Utah. Since I had already graduated I didn't have anything to do that day and ended up sitting in front of the TV all day listening to the news and watching the horrific images over and over and over again. The whole thing seemed so surreal and so impossible that I was somewhat emotionless watching it all. I was actually surprised by the lack of feeling I had. Fortunately/unfortunately, that didn't last much past a day. After my brain took it all in and started to process everything, an overwhelming feeling of fear and dread started to fill me. How could something so horrible have happened? The sadness of the families who had lost loved ones and the fear and terror those poor victims must have felt consumed me. It was a dark time for many and I was not immune.
In the years since, it has been hard for me to find much peace when it comes to the state of the world. The news is filled with constant negative and horrible happenings in peoples lives. There is never a shortage of tragedies. With the advancement of technology and our access to the events of the world literally in our pockets, there have been times where I have sat for hours consumed by what is going on. It has sucked hope from me and left me devastated for those affected.
Just over a month or so ago I was checking the news and was again awash with despair at what I was reading. There was not one positive thing in the headlines. Terrorists, domestic political tensions, families falling apart, the world economy in free fall; it went on and on. There was not one thing that spoke of hope. Right then and there I told myself I was done. I was done with the news. It was one of the better decisions I've made for myself in a long time.
Here's the amazing things that has happened. By refusing to look at the news anymore on my phone I still know what's going on, but I am not inundated with it to a level that brings me down. I catch snippets of it on the radio, in conversations with friends, and through social media. Last Friday when I sat down to look at Facebook I knew something terrible had happened in Paris from all the profile pictures being overlaid with the french flag and the pictures of people in Paris popping up as their cover photos. I looked briefly at a news agency website to determine what had happened, and then I turned it off.
Now, I most certainly don't think it's wise to be ignorant and indifferent to the happenings in our world. Suffering, hate, and evil need to be fought by those who know what they are up against, but as I have thought about it, by not letting such things consume me, I am fighting those very things in a very real way. I am creating peace within myself and then am more able to more fully and completely project it onto the world around me. Evil, which breeds fear and hate, cannot continue if it does not reside within us. I have truly begun to see the truth in the saying, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." It does begin with each of us and could there truly be a greater gift? I hope all of you can find more peace this holiday season and as you do, that you can pass it on to those around you. It truly would make the world a better place.
Happy Sabbath!
It was a windy day that day!! Thus the fly aways!
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