Your Stars Oct 08 |
THE WORLD AND ME Sometimes I do ask myself how I fit in with the world. Fitting in: in general, in particular, emotionally, socially and professionally. It is not always easy. But, when I do, I feel integrated and I am taking part in what is going on, the purpose of life then becomes meaningful again. Difficult times occur in our lives when we can't make sense of what is happening, either to us and or the world. We feel isolated in such instances and we long for company and understanding. We need to value the cause of the problem and make sense of ourselves in the changed world again. Only then can we find clarity again. Let's consider some examples: the floods in Central America and Bangladesh, the worldwide financial turmoil, the wars and the struggle for power. We see the misery of a country, of the people, the frantic gambling for solutions, the lies about the facts displayed on our TVs. As we immerse ourselves in emotional thoughts, we lose control over the reasons of so much hardship, we forget the climate changes that are affecting our planet, we forget the poor urban planning, and the force of the weather patterns in certain areas of the earth. We are reminded of the greed of politicians, of people who depend on their wealth more than on their health and wellbeing. We always tend to want to help people, even distant to us. The mere idea of being able to relieve their distress makes us feel better too; often we are inadequate with our so called help though. The government rather than people busy themselves with solutions and relief operations, so we end up sitting idle by our TVs and news stations and lose the context of the real world: climate changes and wild weather do occur, banks crash, wars are initiated over and over again. Help is regularly organised late and the people in charge, the "government" is impersonal, inaccessible whereas the victims, the vulnerable citizens are suffering, many unjustly and repeatedly ignoring why it is happening to them. It is this kind of destitution that we would like to ease, to erase from those concerned. And yes, it would make us feel better about the situation because if we are active about it, in any way possible, it annuls our guilt of being better off. So, what can we really do? Doing nothing is not an option, as it compounds our responsibility as people living in a safer world. But we should all revise this word "safe" individually for ourselves and collectively as nations. Helping with money when we don't know where our money is going is not all the time a responsible move. But many of us opt for this possibility as it is something we know how to do. It is also acceptable in our society. Some of us become involved and write, speak up, etc, about events every so often far away from home or at least away from themselves. I have been thinking a fair bit about us, people, how we involve ourselves with the world, with the news, with other peoples' business. It is so extremely difficult to stay focussed, to keep to the facts, to abstain from interpretations. I say that because I feel we are not competent to analyse what we don't understand. But we have ourselves, our best tool! We can at all times do the best by ourselves, for ourselves. Then we are good company for other, too! We need to look after ourselves before we look after anyone else. Do you know why we regularly do it the other way round? |
In love and light to all of you Mariana |