It’s been a week of world catastrophe, overwhelming destruction and human loss. One small gleam of hope has been the Red Cross’s direct donation link at Amazon’s home page. You can actually watch the stream of dollars flow from our country out to those in dire need.
Closer to home, tales of studio fires and loss are traded on my forums. Each story is harder to hear, harder still to comprehend.
What can we do?
I went to bed last night overwhelmed with how much there is in this world to take care of, and how powerless I feel to do that.
I woke up with one thought—“Take care of one little piece.”
And later, another thought—“Put your own oxygen mask on first.”
Just like the airline attendants show us every time we prepare for a flight. You have to make sure you yourself can breathe before you are in a position to be of real use to others. I have to take care of myself so I can then take care of others.
And then I can focus on what I feel called to do.
You can tell when people feel called to put down the life they’re living and totally change course. They do things like create MADD or they join the Peace Corps. I don’t think I’ve been called to put my current life down—yet. Unless becoming an artist was answering that call.
But I know there will also be some small, impulsive, wild action I will be called upon to make, very soon, that will be my contribution. I know, because there always is when I feel this way.
Is it pathetic or pragmatic? I have no way of knowing. I know that thinking about how to take care of the world is paralyzing. Thinking about one thing I can do today, to take care of something besides my immediate needs and immediate situation, is doable. Highly doable.
But if EVERYBODY did that….what could we accomplish today?
