Bravery

I am blessed. By just about every metric, I live a charmed life. The occasional turn of fate that doesn't go my way is far overshadowed by the towering good that I am privy to.

But... in the world around me - shit happens. There is the shit that happens to people and places far away - removed from my ethnocentric circle of influence. This shit gets called earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and genocide. All of it devastating yet frighteningly easy to distract myself from. With these happenings, as with the rare troubles I face, it takes little effort to give control/credit over to the powers that be, often a higher power or the unseen hand. Calmly, detached - 'shit happens.'

Then there is the shit that hits the ground walked on by people I know. Watching the people I love battling inconceivable pain, I always end up filled with rage; rage at God, rage at fate, rage at the world that incubates ignorance and evil. Anger is not a trait I experience often enough to know what to do with or not be terrified by it's consummation.

Why does my brain allow the pain of one to completely swallow the pain of thousands? I know it's typical, but it feels wrong. This is a part human nature I will always be frustrated by.

Still, hope subsists. From the mouth and heart of someone far braver that I - said while living through the worst moment of his life;

"Live with peace in your heart, and seek out those with peace in theirs."