As I write this there’s been a most devastating Earthquake in Haiti. People are truly suffering at this moment, and it hurts all around.
I imagine that in much simpler times, ancient times, humans were connected to each other on much deeper levels. There were no countries, or factions, maybe even no warring tribes, and as a common species we sought to love, protect and preserve each other’s life and link to the Earth.
Of course now is much different. I don’t even need to get into that. But what about the good that’s left in people? Does it represent a majority? Do we live in a society that glorifies glory and triumph but brushes tragedy under the rug?
Triumph and tragedy are one and the same, cut from the same cloth. They require the same attention. As great as it feels to witness or participate in something beautiful and moving, it is equally great to participate in helping others through their tragedies.
I’ve been pretty lucid and clear-headed lately, and I can say with total conviction that I am hurting because people in Haiti are living in an unimaginable hell far worse than the hell they were in to begin with.
This is empathy, not sympathy. There is a significant difference between the two. Empathy places you in the shoes of others while sympathy cuts a safe, sterile distance from others.
You don’t need to have experienced a deadly earthquake to have empathy for Haitians right now, you just need to feel the loss everything around you—even if just for a fleeting second, all you can muster.
So just as triumph brings people together, so must tragedy. The thread of humanity is just that—a thread. Anyone who chooses to wake up from their complacent slumber and live, truly live, should grab onto that thread and never let go.