What the heck is going on out there in the world at large? I'm not a conflict avoider by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm tempted to pull the covers over my head, put on some rose coloured glasses and dream about lollipop trees and sugar mound mountain ranges.
Every time I turn around, it seems like tragedy is lurking in the dark corners of the lives of those around me. It's also on the news, in the newspapers, in my silly, frivolous magazines. I know celebrity deaths don't affect me personally, but it further enforces the general pervasive feeling I have lately of doom and gloom.
It seems many, many, many friends marriages are or have fallen apart in the last year. Others are being diagnosed with chronic illnesses or diseases. In the current economy, others have lost jobs and their incomes, even their very homes. Children have been killed and families torn apart. Between custody battles and counselling sessions, it pummels the soul into inertia.
I read daily about the horrors happening all around the world to children, to women, to men, to families. Lately, there have been a string of articles on child kidnappings. Is there any hope out there? Anything good to cheer a weary and darkened heart?
I had a friend that would refuse to look at the newspaper or watch the news. When 9/11 happened, it was infuriating to me that she had no clue what was transpiring every day on the streets of New York, or anywhere else for that matter. I was living and breathing CNN during those long, dark days and she was going to the spa and the gym!!! I couldn't understand how she could abide living with such an ignorant attitude. While I'm not condoning living in an egocentric bliss, I'm starting to understand her point.
The more I read and see and hear, the more I'm absorbing a general feeling of hopelessness. Worse still, it makes me paranoid about daily living type activities. I don't want to become a shut-in, but I also don't want to turn a blind eye to the crisis that plagues the many nations of the world at large.
For every horrific image or headline I read or see, for every sad news brief I receive from friends, for every loss of life and love and innocence, there is an opposite story out there somewhere of hope and joy and faith. Sometimes, it takes some scrounging to find it, but I know they exist.
I do believe there are still good people in the world. I do believe the world still holds many miracles and magic moments. The key is to find them amid all the clutter that holds them at bay. It's difficult to cut through the heavy veils of despair at times, but if we lose the desire to continue seeing the positive, all truly IS lost.
It reminds me of my favourite childhood movie, "The Neverending Story". The "Nothing" is consuming the enchanted land with darkness because people have given up dreaming and imagining and hoping. All that is needed to conquer the despair and sorrow is happy, fantastic dreams of optimism and life.
I won't let "The Nothing" cast its' shadow across my hearth and home. My soul still soars above the clouds whenever it gets a chance.
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