I woke up this morning to the daily news on www.msn.com. Specifically this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30046195 about mass shootings, crisis, the downturn of the economy, and American response to said crises. The name of the article is: Are Americans becoming numb to tragedy?
Of course we are! The more tragedy one endures, the more likelihood we will "get used to it" as if it were the norm. Sadly, tragedy is the norm.
But I take issue with such pessimism. No, you don't have to look far to find evil. Before the terrorism crisis and recession and Iraq war there were the silent battles, perhaps all the more insiduous for the way good people turned from these situations, ignoring cries of help. (This is not to poo-poo the very real, very undeniable crises facing our nation and our world. I always hated the argument "But evil is always around" as if its very normalcy creates a morality--a "but she's doing it" toddler-esque argument to make evil seem benign. Anything that puts to question the inherent value and preciousness of human beings is serious. Anything that causes somebody to be hurt, stumble, limp, that's serious.)
So all of this...information...creates a mountain of dump, and I just want to scream out and say, hello! People! Turn around! Behind the dump is a candyland. Go indulge yourselves.
Today I indulged myself. The softness of Iyla, a little 4-month old girl as she suckled at her formula, snug in grandma's arms. It brought me to tears! Such beauty!
Birds singing outside my apartment. The swoosh and bite of wind against my feet as I walked onto the balcony to watch children play on the grass hill outside. The hilarious, pretentious world of literary criticism and intellectually preening for my professor, so that he thinks I'm passing intelligent.
This is as much our lives as the dump. To deny one is to be lost.
