Thursday, November 14, 2013




Do not be overwhelmed by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

The Talmud 

I'm not sure how to do that, especially given a cursory reading of the news this morning. The man dying in the Tacloban hospital, the spy who was found naked in a duffel bag in the bathtub, the millions uninsured, my own daughter's haunting banged up face. Living with questions, neither free nor obligated.

6 comments:

  1. That's one heck of a quote for any day. I'll be whispering it too.

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  2. A Tolkien quote I've always loved seems similar to me.
    “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.”

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  3. Focus on your daughter's face today. Kiss it better. I hope she is not in too much pain. I send love.

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  4. It's all too much sometimes, isn't it. We can only tend to that which is in our reach. As I know you do.

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  5. There are days when I wish the global news networks would crash so that I could only hear about the things going on in my own neighborhood, but I know those are overwhelming, too, and I know that it is news of these events that allows more people to be helped than ever before by those halfway across the world. And then I remember that if it weren't for this same technology, I would never know people like you, so I relent. I have to admit that I feel defeated the more I pay attention to news stories and links people put on Facebook, but I also am uplifted by the acts of love and kindness I hear about in both places. I guess it's a matter of which I choose to focus my energies on. Sending love and light your way.

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  6. I saw that article and photo too. Gut wrenching to read and heartbreaking to see. Then I read the article next to it- about an auto mechanic in South America who has invented a cheap/easy to manufacture device that may help save countless lives of mothers and babies in countries all over the world where c-sections are not available if the baby gets stuck in the birth canal. And last week there was the article about brilliant business students who created warming bags for babies who are born prematurely and need to be in incubators, but don't have access to them. There is good out there. There is hope. Just hold on a little bit longer.

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