(no subject)
When I spoke to my mother yesterday, she was kind of all worked up about some stuff she'd heard on the radio about stuff going on in Haiti. Not everyone doing stuff there and collecting money and managing money for relief efforts is doing it the best way. My mother knows this because of someone else's investigative journalism, but she is angry and lets loose about it as if she were the only one aware. I think it is good to be aware, but she is a 64-year-old woman in the US with no skills related to this and no disposable income. The anger is not productive, and it is frustrating to be on other end of the phone while she's going on tirades about how people are Wrong.
I didn't say that. Instead - I had an idea! I shared this quote (which I got from the helpers community info) with her:
"When I was a child and would see scary things on the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" -- Mister Rogers
And then I mentioned and described some very awesome individuals I've heard about who have gone to do relief work on their own, in a helpful way. And then I told her about how I see other good things when I look for them. And I think it kind of worked. The conversation went relatively well. Good things don't negate the bad things, but it gives me hope, and when I can't help with something myself, either physically or financially, I think it's better to feel hopeful, at least, so I can go about the things I can and need to do in non-angry, non-upset frame of mind.
I didn't say that. Instead - I had an idea! I shared this quote (which I got from the helpers community info) with her:
"When I was a child and would see scary things on the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" -- Mister Rogers
And then I mentioned and described some very awesome individuals I've heard about who have gone to do relief work on their own, in a helpful way. And then I told her about how I see other good things when I look for them. And I think it kind of worked. The conversation went relatively well. Good things don't negate the bad things, but it gives me hope, and when I can't help with something myself, either physically or financially, I think it's better to feel hopeful, at least, so I can go about the things I can and need to do in non-angry, non-upset frame of mind.