I wish you wouldn't feel guilty. What if all 8 billion of us had miserable war-torn lives? Life would not be worth living then, for anyone. There has to be something to strive for, and for many people that's peace, and family, and safety, which unless you experience it you won't long for it when things go bad. The dice fall how they will, and none of us get to control these things either for ourselves or for other people.
Also, up until technology really started advancing we were all very ignorant of most wars and conflicts and natural disasters. We went about our lives while others were suffering, and we didn't know anything about it. Knowing about it and not being able to do anything about it, or going about life blissfully ignorant, neither are a crime or anything to feel guilty about. That's what being alive entails.
As recently as the 80s we may not have heard about that hurricane in Mexico until we got the Sunday paper, and then what was there to do except say, "Oh those poor people" and maybe donate or join a mission trip to help with cleanup? It's the same now. Sorry I just see a lot of folks on my LJ feed wringing their hands over global events that are way too large and numerous for one little person in one little town to do anything about, and the hand-wringing certainly doesn't lift any burdens either.
I think a lot of people are doing soul searching right now with all the terrible news we are constantly exposed to. My way is to try to live my own life and not add to the confusion. I don’t actually feel guilty (as far as I know I didn’t cause this - except for the fact that all my life I’ve used plastics and burned oil and gas and added to the earth’s burden - so in a way I did cause it). But so much of what is going on just doesn’t seem fair, or sane. Probably a natural reaction is to have a little “survivors guilt”.
I wonder, sometimes, whether we don't feel guilty not for having it as good as we have it here----something like eighty percent (or higher) of the world's population, it is said, wakes up every morning Yet, we are discontent with our lives, and we complain, and I suspect that down deep that's why we feel guilty.
Regarding other countries' wars---and I'm not saying those wars don't impact us---we may feel powerless.
As we started to pull out from the Covid-19 lock-down and to begin to recover a little bit from the impact of the virus on the world, Russia invaded Ukraine. There were 22 (twenty-two) other wars already ongoing before Hamas attacked Israel.
Understand. Be compassionate. Be generous. Be grateful (while we, collectively, are terrified for ourselves and our families and while we may still be mourning loved ones taken from us by the latest coronavirus, or random violence, or whatever.) Be strong. We're THE world leader. Give. Give abroad. Give at home. Give a damn. Don't worry. We, the country, the American people, will be O.K. We are O.K. We take care of the underdogs and the downtrodden (while we neglect to put our own social house in order and people are homeless and/or food insecure in this purportedly richest nation on earth.
One writer observed that Americans are experiencing "compassion fatigue,." and I'm sure we're not the only nation which is. I often feel I'm dealing with "up-and-at-'em" fatigue, too.
So, like you, I try to live my quiet life, and reduce to whatever degree/s I can my impact on the Earth; and I plant a portion of every garden row for the hungry, and I share surplus garden seeds and fresh garden plant starts around with those who might not feel they can buy more than X number of seed packets. I sew most of my clothing, but I wear a lot of cotton fabrics and cotton production is very hard on the planet for something like 25% of all the heavy metal contaminants used in agriculture are in the soil and the water because of the cotton grown. I also use linen, and there are contaminants from the dyes and mordants. If I grew my own linen, and had my own sheep to shear, that would be different and, I believe, it would be a little bit helpful---but I don't.
It’s very hard to live a totally harmless life when so much of our entire lifestyle has us using and eating things that harm the environment. Change takes time!
We don't have a lot of time left. Right now, the Doomsday Clock is set at 90 (ninety) seconds to Midnight. We need to clean up our collective act, and to do it, stat!
I wish you wouldn't feel guilty. What if all 8 billion of us had miserable war-torn lives? Life would not be worth living then, for anyone. There has to be something to strive for, and for many people that's peace, and family, and safety, which unless you experience it you won't long for it when things go bad. The dice fall how they will, and none of us get to control these things either for ourselves or for other people.
Also, up until technology really started advancing we were all very ignorant of most wars and conflicts and natural disasters. We went about our lives while others were suffering, and we didn't know anything about it. Knowing about it and not being able to do anything about it, or going about life blissfully ignorant, neither are a crime or anything to feel guilty about. That's what being alive entails.
As recently as the 80s we may not have heard about that hurricane in Mexico until we got the Sunday paper, and then what was there to do except say, "Oh those poor people" and maybe donate or join a mission trip to help with cleanup? It's the same now. Sorry I just see a lot of folks on my LJ feed wringing their hands over global events that are way too large and numerous for one little person in one little town to do anything about, and the hand-wringing certainly doesn't lift any burdens either.
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I wonder, sometimes, whether we don't feel guilty not for having it as good as we have it here----something like eighty percent (or higher) of the world's population, it is said, wakes up every morning
Yet, we are discontent with our lives, and we complain, and I suspect that down deep that's why we feel guilty.
Regarding other countries' wars---and I'm not saying those wars don't impact us---we may feel powerless.
As we started to pull out from the Covid-19 lock-down and to begin to recover a little bit from the impact of the virus on the world, Russia invaded Ukraine. There were 22 (twenty-two) other wars already ongoing before Hamas attacked Israel.
Understand. Be compassionate. Be generous. Be grateful (while we, collectively, are terrified for ourselves and our families and while we may still be mourning loved ones taken from us by the latest coronavirus, or random violence, or whatever.) Be strong. We're THE world leader. Give. Give abroad. Give at home. Give a damn. Don't worry. We, the country, the American people, will be O.K. We are O.K. We take care of the underdogs and the downtrodden (while we neglect to put our own social house in order and people are homeless and/or food insecure in this purportedly richest nation on earth.
One writer observed that Americans are experiencing "compassion fatigue,." and I'm sure we're not the only nation which is. I often feel I'm dealing with "up-and-at-'em" fatigue, too.
So, like you, I try to live my quiet life, and reduce to whatever degree/s I can my impact on the Earth; and I plant a portion of every garden row for the hungry, and I share surplus garden seeds and fresh garden plant starts around with those who might not feel they can buy more than X number of seed packets. I sew most of my clothing, but I wear a lot of cotton fabrics and cotton production is very hard on the planet for something like 25% of all the heavy metal contaminants used in agriculture are in the soil and the water because of the cotton grown. I also use linen, and there are contaminants from the dyes and mordants. If I grew my own linen, and had my own sheep to shear, that would be different and, I believe, it would be a little bit helpful---but I don't.
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We don't have a lot of time left. Right now, the Doomsday Clock is set at 90 (ninety) seconds to Midnight. We need to clean up our collective act, and to do it, stat!
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