the more i know about what's going on in the world, the more i feel like i absorb whatever news story i've just read or watched. ask zach. he knows the moment my level of empathy rises and somehow knows just before the tears well up in my eyes. he'll give me a little look or extends a hand. he's a sensitive one too.
i remember in my mid-20s that i became very anxious. i lived in ny then too and when i'd walk down the street, shopped in a store, or ate in a restaurant i felt overwhelmed. rather my senses felt overwhelmed. it was too loud, or too bright, or too hot, or too smelly...or there were just too many people. in a city like ny, there were always too many people. what i found the most upsetting was the number of homeless people there were on the streets. i wondered about them...worried about them...bought sandwiches and gave them money.
that intense anxiety 30 years later has all but disappeared, but what remains is the overly sensitive view of what's unjust. it doesn't need to be something as egregious as the oil spill, or as tragic as the war in iraq, it can be a news segment on wednesday's children about a child who needs a home and a parent to love them. it will pull me to that place where i question - where is the good in this world? it also makes me think about answering a call to action ... maybe adopting.
wwcd: i'd like to spread the empathy around a bit and see everyone take a little responsibility for what goes on in our world
From Aunt Judy:
ReplyDeleteWhere is the good in this world ......this comes out of my mouth more than once every day.....EVERY DAY.
as a young child in my father's car, driving to ny, as we did on many family get togethers, we always drove thru the bowery.....the area where the homeless lived...these were sidewalks, alley ways, gutters, doorways...I always said when I grow up, I will come back and feed, clothe, give money to all these poor people.
I have always gotten very depressed when all the major holidays come i.e.......xmas, thanksgiving, etc, etc.....my mindset till this day always goes to those without...the poor, the homeless, being bombarded either on TV, or the stores. supermarkets...promoting all the big events, always family get togethers. I am never excited about these holidays, because somewhere, someplace is a child, and adult, a family unable to take part in these celebrations.
hate it, hate it.....the shelters are overflowing with the homeless families. in need of all the things we take for granted........absolutely to this day still breaks my heart.
because of the falling economy, middle class Americans have become part of the equation......military families suffering beyond one's imagination...they fight for our country, come home to no jobs, and lucky if they get food stamps...this was a special last night on TV. it is frightening to see the statistics of how many Americans have lost their homes, have no medical coverage, and no one to feed or clothe their loved ones......what has happened to this country??????
me too. i think about adopting, as well, for all the same reasons.
ReplyDelete