Relative Something

Ok, so it’s Friday. Next thing you know, I’ll be in Chicago for the weekend. My days are flying by and I’m not sure I’m even there to experience them. Any exercise I have been able to practice on being aware of the present moment of late has been shrouded in as much fog as the landscape in the twin cities this week. Just yesterday, as I was driving home, I realized that I had no conscious recollection of the last few miles of freeway I had just been on. Part of me quickly flashes to a concern over what I could have just driven over or glaring errors I could have made for having been so unaware, even as my logic conveys the obvious probability that the reason I don’t remember it is because of the very fact that there wasn’t any obstacle to drive over nor cause me to err. It’s far from the pinnacle of being ‘in the moment’.

Meanwhile, I get a sense of how petty my concerns are when tragedies like the earthquake in Haiti fill the news. I really relate to the level of suffering it must be to endure the trauma of the incident and then when it is over, to have nothing in the way of basic services available to turn to. In the first day alone, I would be at such a loss for the simple drink of clean water. If I lost everything and have no job to go to, I gotta believe that in the very least, I would lend a hand to whatever situation was visible before me. But no matter what I end up finding to do, it’s thirst that would seem to be without remedy. If, and when, drinking water does show up, how do you get enough for yourself and for everyone around you?

It’s always great to see the world respond to tragedies with outpourings of support. Whenever this kind of response happens, the thought occurs to me of how sad it is that we can’t seem to rally the same kind of rapid, effective, collective reaction for global issues of suffering from human-produced disasters of war and hunger and poverty. It takes a devastating natural disaster.

It’s like my ongoing lament that we wait until a person dies to suddenly all gush overwhelming acknowledgment for their accomplishments. Wouldn’t it be nice if we did that before the people are gone?

Tell someone you appreciate them today. And consider a contribution to an international relief organization.