Tragedies and being "normal"

Since Katrina, all the destruction and the submersion of New Orleans, working on this blog has seemed pointless to me, at least in the manner I was writing it.    Then I decided that the utter irrelevance of writing (or reading) this blog was exactly why I had to do it.

When you have a head injury, the relevance of everything around you becomes resoundingly deep and meaningful.  When people look at you cross-eyed you don't think that it's because they actually are cross-eyed, but they look at you that way because you are head injured.   The absolute weight of your thoughts and fears drag you down.

What we need is something to make us stop thinking about ourselves and our plight...a way to make ourselves useful so that we don't feel head injured.  Involve us in an activity wth purpose which will give worth to our lives and make us feel as though we are contributing.

When I watched what was happening in New Orlean and Mississippi I wanted to go down there.  I didn't want to give money because that would not be an expression of how I felt.  I wanted to share life with these people.  I wanted them to know how important they were, and that I was ready to sacrifice for them.  Then I came back to reality.  A new job...I haven't really been working since my company closed down.  My responsibilities to my family stopped me, but how I would love to go there for a month or two.

One thing we have all learned is: what is really meaningful.  Each of us knows the value of life, and not only that, but the value of a "normal life"  ("Normal" being that place we cannot return to.)  Who gives us a "normal" life, or ordains us as "normal?  We do.  It's how we think of ourselves relevant to everyone else.   However, the scope of this tragedy goes beyond the word "normal" and makes it irrelevant.  In fact, having the United States suffer disasters (something once almost unheard of) is becoming "normal".    In fact, being normal in the United States is no longer synonemous with being invincible.  Being normal is an admission that bad things can happen...really bad things.

These people who have been so badly affected will hopefully live to  see a better day, and that is partially in their own hands.  In some cases they may be powerless to really affect their future, but they are powerful in taking what they have learned and applying it to their lives. 

Think of each of us as having special powers which we can use for the better good.  Tragedies  mold us, whether they be hurricanes or car accidents.  We just have to learn how to use them.

Comments

[Beverly Robb]

I really enjoyed reading your blog today.

This disaster really puts everything in perspective. I have suffered nothing compared to the hurricane victims, and I feel guilty even thinking as such.

Beverly