There's so much going wrong in so much of the world so much of the time that I usually find it too overwhelming to dwell on global events. Instead, I focus on my own much narrower universe and direct my caring and concern toward my family, friends, and local community.
Today, though, it feels like my community is the world. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatens to become America's Chernobyl. Whole ecosystems and geographic areas may be ruined for decades or more. The oil that's spewing from the undersea well in the Gulf knows no national boundaries. The U.S., Cuba, Canada, and the entire globe will be affected by what happens there.
While the Gulf disaster represents apparent corporate and perhaps governmental negligence, greed, and technological over-reaching, the latest escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict seems emblematic of the ethnic and racial hatreds that permeate our human family. In a world where so many good people try to live decent lives, why do others seem to thrive on conflict and destruction?
I haven't got a clue about how to make things better, but it's hard to write a cheery blog about my latest domestic absurdity in the face of millions of barrels of spilled oil and escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Hopefully, things will be better tomorrow.
Tragedy dissipates. Be patient! The phoenix will arise.
ReplyDeleteThank you for putting into words exactly what and how I feel tonight on the other side of the ocean. Further from the ecological disaster and nearer the Mediterranean one - but devasted by both.
ReplyDeleteI'm not in denial, but I have definitely stopped watching the news channels so avidly. I have no idea what the answers are. I keep trying to find someone to blame, but deep down know that blame is a shared thing. I drive a Honda. Here in the USA,we are all surrounded by plastic--even if we manage to carry our cloth bags to the grocers. It seems these days I feel guilty about everything. I don't buy bottled water anymore, but I can't give up books, so there you go. Sometimes I understand perfectly why so many third world countries hate us--with all of our excesses, and yet other times I am reminded that we are one of the most generous countries when it comes to giving aid. And then there's nuclear proliferation.... ~bonnie
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