Of course, the scale of a tragic event does not make it more or less tragic, nor more or less deserving of caring. I am personally mourning the passing of someone I knew in high school, an indigenous boy who I offered to help with his school work (that didn't go ahead for a whole host of reasons, unfortunately). He wasn't Koori, but his culture may have also prohibited mentioning the names of the dead (for very good reason, actually - see here), so I won't mention it. I will just mourn ... both his passing, and the discrimination I saw him endure while we were both at high school.
Discrimination brings to mind attitudes, which raises the issue of the recent mass shooting in the USA [2]. I've lived on the receiving end of verbal discrimination, and other forms of discrimination induced by a third party's words, so I KNOW just how massively powerful words ARE - words can maim and kill. Doubt it? Think of the harm done in abusive relationships, for a starter. I don't doubt that the rhetoric being used in the USA by the "Tea Party" mob and their ilk has probably contributed (it may not have CAUSED, but I consider it probably CONTRIBUTED) to the shooting.
I know there are surveys on topics such as whether TV or other things contribute to violence which seem to have conflicting outcomes (sorry - I haven't bothered to keep any links). One report seems to say, yes TV etc causes increased violence, others are claimed to prove otherwise. I personally think the studies are flawed because
(a) they take a "one-size-fits-all" approach: I think it is problematic for some people (especially SOME kids), and not for others (including some kids); and
(b)a certain level of violence permeates our culture and, including from psychic sources, our consciousness (a point discussed in "The Only Planet of Choice"), which means you cannot really compare the study results with a control group.
I know the world is a lot less violent than it was during the Middle Ages, but it can still improve - and will.
There a few things people can do right now: care enough about crises such as the Queensland and Brazil floods to at least pray for assistance for those affected (including the planet herself), light a candle to help send healing (or help get healing sent by others, if you do not know how to heal), do - if you know how - do spirit rescue [3] to help those who died in trauma break free of their trauma and pass over.
On that, I recently (as in, last night :) ) saw a new (well, new to me :) ) film about rescue from the perspective of the person being rescued: "Passengers" (see here). Really good film (from the point of view of spirit rescue and understanding passing over), one that I will add to my list of such films - which currently includes Always, Heart and Souls, Ghost, The Lovely Bones, The Others and Voices (for which I still cannot find a link; I discussed such films in a few posts, including here and here). A couple of aspects I particularly liked about the film are the depiction of love/relationships after death, and how forgiveness can lead to benefits for oneself ...
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
Notes:
- I was staggered to learn that the area affected by the floods in Queensland is larger than the area of France and Germany combined.
- Some of the coverage and opinion pieces I've read is here, here, here and here.
- See my previous posts, including here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and other links within this post.
This post's photo is yet to be posted.
Tags: rescue, healing, crises, disasters, attitudes, violence,
First published: Thorsdagr, 13th January, 2011
Last edited: Friday, 14th January, 2011
